If Cash is King, is there "Value" in Gold?

One of the common critiques about gold is that it is impossible to “value”, with no cash-flow that one can use to determine whether the current price is cheap, expensive or fair. This “failing” of gold leads many to simply write gold off as an “investment” per se, as it does not fit within the traditional model (as either a growth or defensive asset), though most people still acknowledge that gold is a solid long-term store of value and “alternative currency”. Considering where valuations in equity markets are today, and where cash rates are sitting, one wonders whether value managers could benefit from including gold in their portfolios, as a partial cash substitute at least. A study of the Australian equity market, local cash returns and unhedged physical gold in AUD gold over the past 15 odd years suggests gold as "cash alternative" might not be as crazy an idea as it sounds. Link here (VIEW LINK)