Why I’m Considering This Boring Ftse 100 Cash Cow Over Spacex

I often hear investors complaining about the lack of exciting names in the FTSE 100, compared to global headline grabbers like Space Exploration Technologies Corp (NASDAQ: SPCX), aka SpaceX.

Yet for all the excitement around aerospace and artificial intelligence, the Footsie has a neat trick of its own: itâs full of companies that already make serious money, right now, without needing anyone’s imagination to justify their price tag.

The price of chasing growth

Plenty of young, ambitious businesses prioritise expansion over all else. Management must plough every spare dollar back into the business to fund the future growth investors are expecting from them.

SpaceX fits that mould well. Its latest quarterly results showed a net loss of $541m, with capital spending of $18.4bn in just three months, an enormous sum for any single quarter.

That kind of spending carries real consequences. Without profit, there is nothing to distribute to shareholders, and relentless cash burn eventually tests even the strongest balance sheet.

Investors are currently happy to keep funding SpaceX’s ambitions, but that patience isn’t guaranteed to last forever if profitability slips ever further into the future.

The Footsie operates on a different logic entirely. It has its share of ambitious growth names, certainly, but the index is also home to dozens of mature businesses generating substantial free cash flow year after year, largely unnoticed by investors chasing the next big story.

A payout with real staying power

One such business is BP (LSE: BP.), the UK’s second-largest integrated oil and gas major. Rather than burning through capital in pursuit of a distant vision, BP has spent decades returning cash directly to shareholders, and recently lifted its dividend once again, up 4% quarter on quarter.

Today’s dividend yield stands at 4.5%, well above the typical Footsie payout. Crucially, this isn’t a promise resting on future potential. It’s a distribution funded by decades of profits earned across multiple oil price cycles, booms and downturns alike.

Strong profits and cash flow

Here’s the contrast that matters most. While SpaceX reported its recent losses after listing on 12 June, BP’s considerably less glamorous operations delivered an underlying profit of $8.9bn across the first half of 2026 with strong cash flow generation:

• Q1 2026 underlying profit: $3.2bn.
• Q2 2026 underlying profit: $5.7bn.
• H1 2026 operating cash flow: $13.8bn.

None of this makes BP risk-free. Oil and gas prices swing sharply with global events, and much of this year’s strength has been tied to elevated prices during the ongoing Middle East conflict. 

Net debt also rose over the half as capital continued flowing into major projects, and a genuine, lasting drop in energy prices would put that spending under pressure. As with any dividend, today’s payout is never a guarantee for tomorrow.

We must keep challenging ourselves, using our balanced investment criteria to make decisions rooted in profitability, cash generation and market realities.

Meg O’Neill, BP CEO

My verdict

I’m currently considering buying BP shares, once some of the geopolitical volatility dies down. After all, it generates serious profits and has a history of delivering for shareholders even in difficult markets.

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Ken Hall does not hold any positions in the companies mentioned.

The post Why I’m considering this boring FTSE 100 cash cow over SpaceX appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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