Tech investors are prizing cash generation again

artists are rarely mentioned alongside Warren Buffett or Benjamin Graham as sources of investing wisdom. But Wu-Tang Clan’s 1994 hit “C.R.E.A.M.” immortalised a saying all investors should be familiar with: Cash Rules Everything Around Me. For much of the post-pandemic boom in equity markets, cash and the gauges of corporate valuation that are associated with it were deeply out of fashion. Money was cheap, nearly free, particularly for technology companies. Investors tripped over each other to finance fast-growing startups with only the fuzziest plans for achieving profitability. Some large listed companies reached absurd valuations relative to their ability to generate cash.