The article uses the analysis of a company's future prospects as an example of how using different metrics can give a very different picture of the value of a company. One of the metrics measured was the dividend yield.
A lot of profit maximizers might soon be radically discounting the importance of dividend yield, and in fact will be moving away from dividends as an important part of a financial plan. The reason is that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, contains a 44.8% tax on dividends, which goes into effect on January 1, 2013.
http://247wallst.com/2012/02/22/divi...tial-election/
Here is an excerpt:
In an effort to compare the data, we looked to what the WSJ reported recently: “Mr. Obama is proposing to raise the dividend tax rate to the higher personal income tax rate of 39.6% that will kick in next year. Add in the planned phase-out of deductions and exemptions, and the rate hits 41%. Then add the 3.8% investment tax surcharge in ObamaCare, and the new dividend tax rate in 2013 would be 44.8%—nearly three times today’s 15% rate.”