I think this is a narrow and old-school view of investing. Generally when a company invests cash flow into R&D it increases the stock price (as the market price

I think this is a narrow and old-school view of investing. Generally when a company invests cash flow into R&D it increases the stock price (as the market prices in the future fruits of that R&D). Many investors prefer price appreciation to dividends for tax reasons. If the stock doesn't go up, that's a signal to the company that investors do not want or do not believe that R&D.