wbmw, not cash flow
No, we're not talking about cash flow here. We're talking about shareholder's equity (stockholder's equity), which includes retained earnings. When a company is making money for its shareholders, that value should rise.
Shareholder's equity is the amount by which the assets in the company exceed the liabilities. It is also known as book value. If the book value is not increasing (after adjusting to be on a per-share basis) when the company claims to be making money, there's a problem hidden in the books.
That problem appears to be Intel's options program and the related share buyback program.