This study investigates the impact of cash holdings and capital structure on firm valuation in Egypt's emerging market, examining how COVID-19 altered investor perceptions. The research employs explainable machine learning (ML) to uncover non-linear financial thresholds that traditional valuation models overlook. Egyptian listed firms from 2015 to 2022 are analyzed using a Super Learner ensemble (Extremely Randomized Trees, Extreme Gradient Boosting, and a Linear Regression meta-learner) alongside SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and partial dependence analysis, with the Super Learner's performance compared against conventional methods in assessing financial policy effects on Tobin's Q. Three key findings emerge: (1) Leverage exhibits a non-linear relationship with valuation, where extreme levels (LEV > 1.2) unexpectedly enhance firm value, challenging trade-off theory; (2) Cash holdings demonstrate threshold effects, with optimal value at ~40% of assets and sharply increasing marginal benefits beyond this point; and (3) COVID-19 amplified these dynamics, elevating the liquidity premium while penalizing excessive debt. The Super Learner significantly outperformed traditional statistical and ML models (R² = 0.572 vs. 0.19-0.47). Practical implications suggest that investors and managers in emerging markets should adopt dynamic cash-debt optimization to avoid undervaluation, while policymakers can use ML-driven thresholds to design crisis-responsive regulations. This study contributes to the literature by (1) identifying non-linear thresholds that extend trade-off and pecking order theories, (2) introducing explainable ML to valuation research to balance accuracy and interpretability, and (3) providing novel evidence of COVID-19's structural impact on investor behavior in emerging economies.

Determining cash holdings is amongst the most important financial decisions made by heads of corporations. This decision relies on theoretical convictions and views as well as firm specific characteristics. This article analyzes the determinants of cash management in Moroccan corporations. By mobilizing all the theories of optimal financial structure, our research attempts to focus on the field of knowledge in the financial management of cash surpluses. No analysis has been carried out concerning cash and cash equivalents in Moroccan firms. These results could, therefore, contextualize the existing knowledge in this research theme and better understand the behavior of companies and their main trends in terms of cash flow, as well as the objectives and motivations of managers. The sample studied consists of 42 Moroccan companies, which are all publicly traded on the Casablanca Stock Exchange over 13 years (2007-2019). This research uses an empirical econometric study based on a positivist approach with a hypothetical-deductive method. We use panel regression analysis and perform all the necessary tests to determine the exact nature of this dataset. Our results show some evidence that a strong positive correlation exists between liquidity level and cash-flow as well as family shareholding. It is also found that the cash holdings of these companies are significantly negatively affected by how large or small the firm is, working capital requirement, debt leverage, as well as growth opportunity of the firm.

The article examines the impacts of cash holding ratio on the performance of firms listed in Vietnam for the period of 2008-2018. The author finds that the proportion of cash holding had a positive impact on the firm performance. The study also shows the impacts of financial leverage, the ratio of tangible assets, firm size, and sales growth on the firm performance. In addition, this is the first study in Vietnam to find a positive and statistically significant impact of state ownership on the firm performance. Thus, the firm performance can be achieved by the effective state capital management. The results of this study provide a reliable basis for financial managers to make appropriate cash holding decisions to improve the firm performance.