It s easy to find companies with heaps of excess cash. The trouble is, a mountain of cash isn t a particularly promising sign. Studies show cash-rich companies are more likely than not to pursue acquisitions. Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) are recent examples. Other studies show that most acquisitions end up losing shareholders money. Put the two together and you get, well, a 1999 study published in the Journal of Finance that concluded cash-rich acquirers destroy an average of seven cents in value for each dollar in cash they were clutching before the deal.

That s a pity. It helps explain why Merck shares plunged Monday after investors learned of its gargantuan marriage to Schering-Plough (SGP), and why Pfizer stock has fallen much further than the broad market since January, when it announced its purchase of Wyeth, for which it s spending all of its cash, taking on plenty of debt and halving its dividend payment.

That leaves stock buyers with two unattractive extremes: Financially strapped companies seem poised to fail, but cash-rich ones look likely to lose, too. Much as I like Apple (AAPL) products, I wouldn t go anywhere near the stock until it releases some of that $25 billion it s sitting on in the form of a big dividend. Otherwise it might do something dumb with the money. Same with the other technology wunderkind I recently pooh-poohed . These include Dell (DELL), Google (GOOG), eBay (EBAY), Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT). To Microsoft s credit, its stock already carries a market-average dividend yield of 3.2%. To its discredit, the high yield is owed in part to the stock price plunging since Microsoft tried last year to buy Yahoo at a price anyone with a calculator could see was too rich by a factor of three.

Financial capacity cash and borrowing power is a fine thing for companies to have right now. But in searching for it, try to look for companies that also have a culture of funneling cash to stockholders, instead of letting it pile too high.

Exxon (XOM) has plenty of cash, but not a ridiculous amount, considering its size. Shares yield 2.4%. The company could easily afford to pay out twice as much, but oil drillers are capital-hungry businesses, and Exxon s cash should be put to profitable use now that the price of reserves and equipment has fallen. The stock goes for 13 times this year s earnings estimate.

Booze distributors generally like to pile on the leverage, but Brown-Forman (BFB) has a relatively unencumbered balance sheet. The stock yields an affordable 2.7% and trades at 14 times earnings. Cheaper companies abound right now, but unlike most, Brown is expected to grow its sales and profits this year and next. Liquor sales, keep in mind, tend to hold up well in a slow economy. (Some of us are thinking about carrying a flask to work once the Dow falls below 6000.)

Becton Dickinson (BDX) is also growing sales and profits. It makes and distributes medical supplies which, notwithstanding the swelling ranks of the jobless and uninsured, aren t especially sensitive to the economy, either. Becton has a dash of cash and another of debt, and its dividend costs barely more than a quarter of profits. Shares at less than 13 times earnings yield 2.1%.