Dividends vs. Buybacks By Jim Cramer About this article: What happens to companies that actually have cash and have flexibility to pay out shareholders? What happened this morning with Transocean is indicative of the dilemma. This morning, RIG reported a pretty darned good number (again, thanks to Dan Fitzpatrick, who flagged this one during his excellent contribution to "Mad Money's" Off the Charts segment), and it is holding in despite oil's decline. It is holding in because the cash flow is huge, the debt manageable, the P/E ridiculously low (4) and the prospects in the out years are better than we thought, or at least better than management thought given the downturn and the commensurate 50% decline in cash flow from the majors and from the oil states. So, the company is petitioning shareholders to do a buyback (it is Swiss-denominated now, so they need such approval). What was telling on the call was that Leon... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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