Bye-Bye Buybacks

Specterx said:
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Would there be so much noise about it if they'd paid dividends instead? Dividends are economically identical to buybacks, but shareholders have to pay taxes on dividends but not on buybacks. How does it benefit shareholders to pay more taxes for no benefit whatsoever?
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Not quite. First, 76% of all US stocks are held in tax-free accounts, so only a small percentage of recipients pay a tax on dividends, and furthermore at a lower tax rate. Second, a dividend payment provided an immediate economic benefit to the recipient. A stock buyback can only provide a benefit in the future, and only if the stock price and company earnings continue to grow.

With a max 20% tax rate, $0.80 of dividends today will always be worth more that the promise of $1 in gains from buyback in the future.
 
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DaveV said:
Not quite. First, 76% of all US stocks are held in tax-free accounts, so only a small percentage of recipients pay a tax on dividends, and furthermore at a lower tax rate. Second, a dividend payment provided an immediate economic benefit to the recipient. A stock buyback can only provide a benefit in the future, and only if the stock price and company earnings continue to grow.

With a max 20% tax rate, $0.80 of dividends today will always be worth more that the promise of $1 in gains from buyback in the future.
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I don't know what fraction of stocks are held in tax-free accounts but 76% sounds outrageously high to me - do you have a source for that?

The second part of your comment is definitely false: a dividend paid to you today and a buyback executed today are economically identical. Obviously, to convert the buyback gain into cash in your account you need to sell a fraction of your stock holdings. In practice, many companies choose to pay dividends on a regular steady cadence whereas buyback activity is lumpier - but there's no reason this must be the case. Owning shares is by by definition owning a "promise" of future payments (whether via dividends or buybacks), and there are no guarantees - just look at all the companies that have slashed previously steady dividends in the past few weeks, some of which may well go under.
 
Corporations (Airlines, Boeing, cruise lines...) buyback their stocks is like me buying stocks during the raging bull market: Buy high sell low.

They need to sell stocks to raise $ after their businesses tanked. At least I can hang on. :)
 
Clubber Lang said:
Studies have shown that companies are HORRIFIC at timing their buybacks.
They buy at/near record highs all to inflate their bs earnings
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Starbucks is tone deaf doing a Buyback in the midst of a Meltdown. Even if they have the cash, why not wait until public sentiment is better?
 
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