Page 5 of 9

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 22:36
by DenisD
parvus wrote:the minus signs mean share issuance
Correct.
And that's just to March 2009. Q2 results will doubtless look worse (if I'm not mistaken).
The first column of percentages is for the six months to end of Sep/09. The second column is for the six months to end of Mar/09. The numbers don't come from the quarterly reports but from the TSX eReview magazine. So, they should be reasonably up to date.

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 23:00
by parvus
Thanks Denis.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 14:34
by Peculiar_Investor
From The WSJ, America's New Cash Conundrum: Too Much (Google the title if necessary to read for free). It would appear that America's companies are sitting on mountains of cash. Last I looked Cisco, Microsoft and Apple had something in the neighbourhood of $100B combined! I have read that many multi-nationals have most of their cash locked up in foreign subsidiaries, which creates tax implications if need to repatriated it to use in the US.

Image
I thought that the enclosed graph showing Authorized buybacks vs. Actual was quite interesting, as we all know that just announcing the intention to buyback stock doesn't mean that it will actually happen. I'm not sure what happened in 2008 to allow executed buybacks exceed authorized. :o

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 14:42
by AltaRed
Peculiar_Investor wrote:I thought that the enclosed graph showing Authorized buybacks vs. Actual was quite interesting, as we all know that just announcing the intention to buyback stock doesn't mean that it will actually happen. I'm not sure what happened in 2008 to allow executed buybacks exceed authorized. :o
As I understand it, 'authorized' often spans a calendar year end, i.e. July 07 to July 08. Thus the authorized amount is registered in 2007, but actual buybacks can occur well into 2008. The executed data is calendar based.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 16:25
by FinEcon
AltaRed wrote:
Peculiar_Investor wrote:I thought that the enclosed graph showing Authorized buybacks vs. Actual was quite interesting, as we all know that just announcing the intention to buyback stock doesn't mean that it will actually happen. I'm not sure what happened in 2008 to allow executed buybacks exceed authorized. :o
As I understand it, 'authorized' often spans a calendar year end, i.e. July 07 to July 08. Thus the authorized amount is registered in 2007, but actual buybacks can occur well into 2008. The executed data is calendar based.
That is exactly what it is. In fact the only case where you get a perfect sync is Jan 1, xxxx - Jan 1, xxxx+1. I don't see squat when I click on the link, does it mention any kind adjustment/control technique for the overlapping lags?

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 16:27
by Peculiar_Investor
FinEcon wrote:
AltaRed wrote:
Peculiar_Investor wrote:I thought that the enclosed graph showing Authorized buybacks vs. Actual was quite interesting, as we all know that just announcing the intention to buyback stock doesn't mean that it will actually happen. I'm not sure what happened in 2008 to allow executed buybacks exceed authorized. :o
As I understand it, 'authorized' often spans a calendar year end, i.e. July 07 to July 08. Thus the authorized amount is registered in 2007, but actual buybacks can occur well into 2008. The executed data is calendar based.
That is exactly what it is. In fact the only case where you get a perfect syc is Jan 1, xxxx - Jan 1, xxxx+1
Thanks to both of you. I probably should have thought of that.

Re:

Posted: 07 Apr 2010 22:02
by DenisD
Time for the spring refresh of my Canadian large-cap screen.

One of the inputs to the screen is the % of shares bought back over the previous year. I thought some of you would be interested in who's buying back shares.

The table below shows the % reduction in shares outstanding for the two previous six-month periods for the selected companies. A positive number means shares have been bought back. I copied the shares outstanding from the Mar09, Sep09 and Mar10 issues of TSX eReview magazine.

If companies have multiple share classes, I either added the numbers together or weighted the classes by the trading price. Some classes appear to be unlisted. In that case, I either copied the additional number of shares from the quarterly report or just used the one class listed.

Suggestions/corrections are appreciated.

Code: Select all

Symbol    Name                           Mar/10  Sep/09
RCI-B.TO  Rogers Communications             4.2     3.3
OCX.TO    Onex Corporation                  1.4     0.2
MRU-A.TO  Metro Inc.                        1.2     2.0
IGM.TO    IGM Financial                     0.5    -0.6
BCE.TO    BCE Inc.                          0.3     3.1
ECA.TO    EnCana Corp.                      0.3     0.0
CTC-A.TO  Canadian Tire Corporation         0.2    -0.1
IFC.TO    Intact Financial                  0.1     0.0
SNC.TO    SNC-Lavalin Group                 0.1    -0.1
IMO.TO    Imperial Oil                      0.0     0.8
BBD-B.TO  Bombardier Inc.                   0.0     0.0
WN.TO     George Weston Ltd.                0.0     0.0
QBR-B.TO  Quebecor Inc.                     0.0     0.0
SC.TO     Shoppers Drug Mart                0.0     0.0
TLM.TO    Talisman Energy                   0.0     0.0
HSE.TO    Husky Energy                      0.0    -0.1
MX.TO     Methanex Corp.                    0.0    -0.1
PWF.TO    Power Financial Corp.             0.0    -0.1
EMP-A.TO  Empire Company                    0.0    -4.1
ATD-B.TO  Alimentation Couche-Tard         -0.1     3.8
CVE.TO    Cenovus Energy                   -0.1     0.0
CCO.TO    Cameco Corp.                     -0.1    -0.1
FTT.TO    Finning International            -0.1    -0.1
POW.TO    Power Corp of Canada             -0.1    -0.1
TRI.TO    Thomson Reuters                  -0.1    -0.1
CNQ.TO    Canadian Natural Resources       -0.1    -0.2
POT.TO    Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan     -0.1    -0.2
BPO.TO    Brookfield Properties            -0.1   -28.0
BAM-A.TO  Brookfield Asset Management      -0.2     0.2
AGU.TO    Agrium                           -0.2     0.0
T.TO      TELUS Corp.                      -0.2     0.0
CP.TO     Canadian Pacific Railway         -0.2    -0.1
CU.TO     Canadian Utilities               -0.2    -0.1
SU.TO     Suncor Energy                    -0.2    -0.1
K.TO      Kinross Gold                     -0.2    -0.7
ABX.TO    Barrick Gold Corp.               -0.2   -12.6
GWO.TO    Great-West Lifeco                -0.3    -0.1
G.TO      Goldcorp Inc.                    -0.3    -0.2
CNR.TO    Canadian National Railway        -0.3    -0.3
L.TO      Loblaw Companies                 -0.3    -0.4
SJR-B.TO  Shaw Communications              -0.4    -0.1
NXY.TO    Nexen Inc.                       -0.4    -0.2
SAP.TO    Saputo Inc.                      -0.5     0.2
ACO-X.TO  ATCO Ltd.                        -0.5    -0.2
RY.TO     Royal Bank of Canada             -0.5    -0.5
NA.TO     National Bank of Canada          -0.5    -0.7
FTS.TO    Fortis Inc.                      -0.6    -0.6
SLF.TO    Sun Life Financial Inc.          -0.7    -0.2
ENB.TO    Enbridge Inc.                    -0.7    -0.6
BNS.TO    Bank of Nova Scotia              -0.8    -0.7
TRP.TO    TransCanada Corp.                -0.8   -10.1
TD.TO     TD Bank                          -0.9    -0.7
CM.TO     CIBC                             -1.0    -0.3
FFH.TO    Fairfax Financial Holdings       -1.2   -16.8
BMO.TO    Bank of Montreal                 -1.3    -1.1
IAG.TO    Industrial Alliance Ins & Fin    -3.9     0.0
MFC.TO    Manulife Financial               -8.9    -0.2
TA.TO     TransAlta Corp.                 -10.5     0.0

Re: Re:

Posted: 08 Oct 2010 00:20
by DenisD
Time for the fall refresh of my Canadian large-cap screen.

One of the inputs to the screen is the % of shares bought back over the previous year. I thought some of you would be interested in who's buying back shares.

The table below shows the % reduction in shares outstanding for the two previous six-month periods for the selected companies. A positive number means shares have been bought back. I copied the shares outstanding from the Sep09, Mar10 and Sep10 issues of TSX eReview magazine.

If companies have multiple share classes, I either added the numbers together or weighted the classes by the trading price. Some classes appear to be unlisted. In that case, I either copied the additional number of shares from the quarterly report or just used the one class listed.

Code: Select all

Symbol    Name                           Sep/10  Mar/10
IFC.TO    Intact Financial                  4.6     0.1
RCI-B.TO  Rogers Communications             2.3     4.2
MRU-A.TO  Metro Inc.                        2.1     1.2
ECA.TO    EnCana Corp.                      1.7     0.3
OCX.TO    Onex Corporation                  1.6     1.4
THI.TO    Tim Hortons                       1.4     2.7
CNR.TO    Canadian National Railway         1.4    -0.3
BCE.TO    BCE Inc.                          1.1     0.3
IGM.TO    IGM Financial                     0.4     0.5
BBD-B.TO  Bombardier Inc.                   0.1     0.0
CTC-A.TO  Canadian Tire Corporation         0.0     0.2
SNC.TO    SNC-Lavalin Group                 0.0     0.1
EMP-A.TO  Empire Company                    0.0     0.0
WN.TO     George Weston Ltd.                0.0     0.0
HSE.TO    Husky Energy                      0.0     0.0
IMO.TO    Imperial Oil                      0.0     0.0
QBR-B.TO  Quebecor Inc.                     0.0     0.0
SC.TO     Shoppers Drug Mart                0.0     0.0
CCO.TO    Cameco Corp.                      0.0    -0.1
TCK-B.TO  Teck Resources                    0.0    -0.1
CU.TO     Canadian Utilities                0.0    -0.2
ACO-X.TO  ATCO Ltd.                         0.0    -0.5
FFH.TO    Fairfax Financial Holdings        0.0    -1.2
MX.TO     Methanex Corp.                   -0.1     0.0
TLM.TO    Talisman Energy                  -0.1     0.0
BPO.TO    Brookfield Properties            -0.1    -0.1
CVE.TO    Cenovus Energy                   -0.1    -0.1
FTT.TO    Finning International            -0.1    -0.1
AGU.TO    Agrium                           -0.1    -0.2
ABX.TO    Barrick Gold Corp.               -0.1    -0.2
SU.TO     Suncor Energy                    -0.1    -0.2
GWO.TO    Great-West Lifeco                -0.1    -0.3
SAP.TO    Saputo Inc.                      -0.1    -0.5
PJC-A.TO  Jean Coutu Group (PJC)           -0.2     0.0
POW.TO    Power Corp of Canada             -0.2    -0.1
TRI.TO    Thomson Reuters                  -0.2    -0.1
CP.TO     Canadian Pacific Railway         -0.2    -0.2
NXY.TO    Nexen Inc.                       -0.2    -0.4
RY.TO     Royal Bank of Canada             -0.2    -0.5
PWF.TO    Power Financial Corp.            -0.3     0.0
CNQ.TO    Canadian Natural Resources       -0.3    -0.1
POT.TO    Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan     -0.3    -0.1
G.TO      Goldcorp Inc.                    -0.3    -0.3
SJR-B.TO  Shaw Communications              -0.3    -0.4
NA.TO     National Bank of Canada          -0.3    -0.5
IAG.TO    Industrial Alliance Ins & Fin    -0.3    -3.9
BAM-A.TO  Brookfield Asset Management      -0.4    -0.2
TA.TO     TransAlta Corp.                  -0.4   -10.5
MFC.TO    Manulife Financial               -0.5    -8.9
UFX.TO    Domtar Canada Paper              -0.7     0.3
T.TO      TELUS Corp.                      -0.7    -0.2
L.TO      Loblaw Companies                 -0.8    -0.3
SLF.TO    Sun Life Financial Inc.          -0.8    -0.7
BNS.TO    Bank of Nova Scotia              -0.9    -0.8
TRP.TO    TransCanada Corp.                -0.9    -0.8
ATD-B.TO  Alimentation Couche-Tard         -1.0    -0.1
FTS.TO    Fortis Inc.                      -1.0    -0.6
ENB.TO    Enbridge Inc.                    -1.1    -0.7
CM.TO     CIBC                             -1.1    -1.0
TD.TO     TD Bank                          -1.4    -0.9
BMO.TO    Bank of Montreal                 -1.4    -1.3
MG.TO     Magna International              -7.2     0.1
K.TO      Kinross Gold                    -62.3    -0.2
PS: RIM bought back 19 million shares in August. :wink:

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 08 Oct 2010 06:14
by gyrfalcon
Great work DenisD. Thanks !

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 23:09
by vince2
For the mathematically challenged like me - if a company pays a dividend of eg. 3% and also buys back 3% of the shareholding - does that equate to a 6% return (hopefully) and does the converse apply eg pays dividend of 3% and issues 3% additional shares = negative return (tax paid on dividends). :shock:

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 13 Oct 2010 11:23
by MaxFax
Neither really. It all depends on what use the company could/will use with the cash involved. Each transaction is a trade-off. Paying dividends may reduce expectations of growth. Buying back shares reduces the owners that must share the income, but also decreases the income that would be earned with the cash. Issuing shares increases the number of owners splitting the income, but the cash proceeds may generate even greater income.

Your misunderstanding comes from the perception that these management decisions create value and shareholder returns. But they are just decisions. If they are done at market values that are correct then what you end up with is equal in value to what you started with. A company only creates value and shareholder returns by earning a profit.

You hear all the time in the media that your 'returns' in essence come from current and future dividends. And you hear that your total return is the sum of the capital gains plus the dividends. Those statements are true, but don't negate the first two paragraphs. Think of a simple analogy.
* You are the sole proprietor of a business.
* You (as CEO) decide to pay yourself (as shareholder) a dividend (or buy back some of your shares, etc).
* Are you any better off? No.
* Is your increase in wealth from the business the sum of both the cash dividend you received and also the increase in value of your company? Yes.

Re: Re:

Posted: 07 Apr 2011 22:29
by DenisD
Time for the spring refresh of my Canadian large-cap screen.

One of the inputs to the screen is the % of shares bought back over the previous year. I thought some of you would be interested in who's buying back shares.

The table below shows the % reduction in shares outstanding for the two previous six-month periods for the selected companies. A positive number means shares have been bought back. I copied the shares outstanding from the Mar10, Sep10 and Mar11 issues of TSX eReview magazine.

If companies have multiple share classes, I either added the numbers together or weighted the classes by the trading price. Some classes appear to be unlisted. In that case, I either copied the additional number of shares from the quarterly report or just used the one class listed.

Code: Select all

Symbol    Name                           Mar/11  Sep/10
POT.TO    Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan      4.1    -0.3
THI.TO    Tim Hortons                       3.9     1.4
RCI-B.TO  Rogers Communications             3.7     2.3
IFC.TO    Intact Financial                  3.6     4.6
MRU-A.TO  Metro Inc.                        1.9     2.1
SAP.TO    Saputo Inc.                       1.7    -0.1
PJC-A.TO  Jean Coutu Group (PJC)            1.7    -0.2
CNR.TO    Canadian National Railway         1.2     1.4
ATD-B.TO  Alimentation Couche-Tard          1.1    -1.0
IGM.TO    IGM Financial                     0.8     0.4
EMP-A.TO  Empire Company                    0.7     0.0
BCE.TO    BCE Inc.                          0.5     1.1
ACO-X.TO  ATCO Ltd.                         0.5     0.0
CTC-A.TO  Canadian Tire Corporation         0.2     0.0
FFH.TO    Fairfax Financial Holdings        0.2     0.0
BBD-B.TO  Bombardier Inc.                   0.0     0.1
IMO.TO    Imperial Oil                      0.0     0.0
ECA.TO    EnCana Corp.                      0.0     1.7
PWF.TO    Power Financial Corp.             0.0    -0.3
COS.TO    Canadian Oil Sands                0.0     0.0
SC.TO     Shoppers Drug Mart                0.0     0.0
SNC.TO    SNC-Lavalin Group                 0.0     0.0
WN.TO     George Weston Ltd.                0.0     0.0
OCX.TO    Onex Corporation                  0.0     1.6
QBR-B.TO  Quebecor Inc.                     0.0     0.0
GWO.TO    Great-West Lifeco                -0.1    -0.1
CVE.TO    Cenovus Energy                   -0.1    -0.1
RY.TO     Royal Bank of Canada             -0.2    -0.2
TCK-B.TO  Teck Resources                   -0.2     0.0
NXY.TO    Nexen Inc.                       -0.2    -0.2
BPO.TO    Brookfield Properties            -0.2    -0.1
FTT.TO    Finning International            -0.2    -0.1
AGU.TO    Agrium                           -0.2    -0.1
UFX.TO    Domtar Canada Paper              -0.2    -0.7
TRI.TO    Thomson Reuters                  -0.3    -0.2
POW.TO    Power Corp of Canada             -0.3    -0.2
SJR-B.TO  Shaw Communications              -0.3    -0.3
CP.TO     Canadian Pacific Railway         -0.3    -0.2
K.TO      Kinross Gold                     -0.4   -62.3
CNQ.TO    Canadian Natural Resources       -0.4    -0.3
CCO.TO    Cameco Corp.                     -0.4     0.0
IAG.TO    Industrial Alliance Ins & Fin    -0.4    -0.3
BMO.TO    Bank of Montreal                 -0.5    -1.4
MG.TO     Magna International              -0.5    -7.2
MX.TO     Methanex Corp.                   -0.5    -0.1
SU.TO     Suncor Energy                    -0.6    -0.1
MFC.TO    Manulife Financial               -0.7    -0.5
L.TO      Loblaw Companies                 -0.8    -0.8
TA.TO     TransAlta Corp.                  -0.8    -0.4
TLM.TO    Talisman Energy                  -0.9    -0.1
TD.TO     TD Bank                          -0.9    -1.4
SLF.TO    Sun Life Financial Inc.          -0.9    -0.8
ENB.TO    Enbridge Inc.                    -0.9    -1.1
NA.TO     National Bank of Canada          -0.9    -0.3
TRP.TO    TransCanada Corp.                -1.0    -0.9
T.TO      TELUS Corp.                      -1.0    -0.7
FTS.TO    Fortis Inc.                      -1.0    -1.0
CM.TO     CIBC                             -1.1    -1.1
ABX.TO    Barrick Gold Corp.               -1.3    -0.1
CU.TO     Canadian Utilities               -1.3     0.0
BNS.TO    Bank of Nova Scotia              -3.9    -0.9
HSE.TO    Husky Energy                     -4.8     0.0
G.TO      Goldcorp Inc.                    -8.4    -0.3
BAM-A.TO  Brookfield Asset Management      -8.4    -0.4

Re: Re:

Posted: 09 Oct 2011 22:04
by DenisD
Time for the fall refresh of my Canadian large-cap screen.

One of the inputs to the screen is the % of shares bought back over the previous year. I thought some of you would be interested in who's buying back shares.

The table below shows the % reduction in shares outstanding for the two previous six-month periods for the selected companies. A positive number means shares have been bought back. I copied the shares outstanding from the Sep10, Mar11 and Sep11 issues of TSX eReview magazine.

If companies have multiple share classes, I either added the numbers together or weighted the classes by the trading price. Some classes appear to be unlisted. In that case, I either copied the additional number of shares from the quarterly report or just used the one class listed.

Code: Select all

Symbol    Name                           Sep/11  Mar/11
THI.TO    Tim Hortons                       4.7     3.9
PJC-A.TO  Jean Coutu Group (PJC)            3.5     3.0
CNR.TO    Canadian National Railway         2.6     1.2
RCI-B.TO  Rogers Communications             2.4     3.7
MRU-A.TO  Metro Inc.                        1.5     1.9
NA.TO     National Bank of Canada           1.2    -0.9
OCX.TO    Onex Corporation                  1.1     0.0
SC.TO     Shoppers Drug Mart                0.9     0.0
SAP.TO    Saputo Inc.                       0.8     1.7
QBR-B.TO  Quebecor Inc.                     0.8     0.0
IGM.TO    IGM Financial                     0.7     0.8
MG.TO     Magna International               0.6    -0.5
ATD-B.TO  Alimentation Couche-Tard          0.5     1.1
ACO-X.TO  ATCO Ltd.                         0.4     0.5
TRI.TO    Thomson Reuters                   0.4    -0.3
FFH.TO    Fairfax Financial Holdings        0.1     0.2
EMP-A.TO  Empire Company                    0.0     0.7
CTC-A.TO  Canadian Tire Corporation         0.0     0.2
BBD-B.TO  Bombardier Inc.                   0.0     0.0
COS.TO    Canadian Oil Sands                0.0     0.0
ECA.TO    EnCana Corp.                      0.0     0.0
WN.TO     George Weston                     0.0     0.0
IMO.TO    Imperial Oil                      0.0     0.0
PWF.TO    Power Financial Corp.             0.0     0.0
SNC.TO    SNC-Lavalin Group                 0.0     0.0
VT.TO     Viterra Inc.                      0.0     0.0
AGU.TO    Agrium                            0.0    -0.2
UFX.TO    Domtar Canada Paper               0.0    -0.2
TCK-B.TO  Teck Resources                    0.0    -0.2
FTT.TO    Finning International             0.0    -0.2
POW.TO    Power Corp of Canada              0.0    -0.3
CCO.TO    Cameco Corp.                      0.0    -0.4
BAM-A.TO  Brookfield Asset Management       0.0    -8.4
CVE.TO    Cenovus Energy                   -0.1    -0.1
GWO.TO    Great-West Lifeco                -0.1    -0.1
BPO.TO    Brookfield Office Properties     -0.1    -0.2
CP.TO     Canadian Pacific Railway         -0.1    -0.3
K.TO      Kinross Gold                     -0.1    -0.4
ABX.TO    Barrick Gold Corp.               -0.1    -1.3
CU.TO     Canadian Utilities               -0.1    -1.3
POT.TO    Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan     -0.2     4.1
NXY.TO    Nexen Inc.                       -0.2    -0.2
CNQ.TO    Canadian Natural Resources       -0.2    -0.4
SU.TO     Suncor Energy                    -0.2    -0.6
T.TO      TELUS Corp.                      -0.2    -1.0
TLM.TO    Talisman Energy                  -0.3    -0.9
L.TO      Loblaw Companies                 -0.4    -0.8
MX.TO     Methanex Corp.                   -0.5    -0.5
TRP.TO    TransCanada Corp.                -0.5    -1.0
MFC.TO    Manulife Financial               -0.6    -0.7
RY.TO     Royal Bank of Canada             -0.7    -0.2
SJR-B.TO  Shaw Communications              -0.7    -0.3
ENB.TO    Enbridge Inc.                    -0.7    -0.9
BNS.TO    Bank of Nova Scotia              -0.7    -3.9
TA.TO     TransAlta Corp.                  -0.8    -0.8
SLF.TO    Sun Life Financial Inc.          -1.0    -0.9
CM.TO     CIBC                             -1.0    -1.1
G.TO      Goldcorp Inc.                    -1.3    -8.4
PWT.TO    Penn West Petroleum              -1.5    -1.9
TD.TO     TD Bank                          -1.8    -0.9
BCE.TO    BCE Inc.                         -3.3     0.5
HSE.TO    Husky Energy                     -6.5    -4.8
FTS.TO    Fortis Inc.                      -6.6    -1.0
IAG.TO    Industrial Alliance Ins & Fin    -7.4    -0.4
BMO.TO    Bank of Montreal                -12.3    -0.5
IFC.TO    Intact Financial                -17.6     3.6

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 21:55
by DenisD
Cashing In On Stealth Dividends
If you find a company buying its own shares, buy some yourself.
.
.
.
When Hewlett-Packard pays too much for a corporate jet it reduces shareholder wealth. When it pays too much for its own shares it leaves shareholder wealth unchanged.
.
.
.
So buybacks are really the same thing as dividends. Except for taxes.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 11 Feb 2012 00:02
by BRIAN5000
I read these a while ago not sure if they are any good or not.

Stock Buybacks Do Not Benefit Future Stock Performance
http://seekingalpha.com/article/323731- ... erformance

For investors then, buybacks tend not to be a good predictor of future stock price performance

http://seekingalpha.com/article/323381- ... own-stocks

Very few companies that have implemented share buybacks have seen their share prices rise consistently and benefit investors.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 11 Feb 2012 01:07
by AltaRed
BRIAN5000 wrote:Very few companies that have implemented share buybacks have seen their share prices rise consistently and benefit investors.
Perhaps not, at least in the short term, but all shares bought back increase EPS of the float that remains. That has to manifest itself in higher stock prices provided: 1) the company is buying back undervalued (rather than overvalued stock), and 2) the company is growing absolute earnings. Those latter two conditions are key to success.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 11 Feb 2012 03:27
by ghariton
BRIAN5000 wrote:I read these a while ago not sure if they are any good or not.

Stock Buybacks Do Not Benefit Future Stock Performance
http://seekingalpha.com/article/323731- ... erformance

For investors then, buybacks tend not to be a good predictor of future stock price performance

http://seekingalpha.com/article/323381- ... own-stocks

Very few companies that have implemented share buybacks have seen their share prices rise consistently and benefit investors.
Both articles are based on the same Thomson Reuters study. I can't seem to get a free copy, so I can't comment on the quality of the analysis. But I have some questions:

(1) Did the study measure repurchase announcements, or actual repurchases, or both?

(2) Did the study control for other things going on at the same time?

(3) Did the results hold after a month? A year? Two years?

(4) Did the study compare share repurchases with dividend increases? With special dividends?

FWIW there is a huge literature out there. Most of it finds that share repurchases are positive. Here is an example. And here's the abstract from another:
The results show that initiation announcements of open market share repurchase programs exhibit a two-day abnormal return of approximately 2%. The price impact on the actual repurchase days is positively correlated with the daily repurchase volume, and is both statistically and economically significant during the first 3 repurchase days in a repurchase program. The long-run abnormal stock performance is positively associated with the fraction of shares bought in the program and is approximately 7% the first year following the initiation announcement. The results indicate that repurchase trading provides price support and that the market participants detect and perceive the repurchase announcement and the first repurchase days in a repurchase program as a signal of undervaluation. The long-run abnormal stock performance found in the study is consistent with the results found in prior studies.
FWIW, share repurchases have the potential to be much more tax-efficient than the same sum distributed as dividends. On the negative side, share repurchases can be initiated by management as a way to increase the value of stock options they own.

Many of the criticisms of share repurchases in the articles Google turned up are hilarious. Examples:

(1) Share repurchases show management's lack of confidence in the company's ability to use the money internally. Yes. So do dividend increases.

(2) Share repurchases reduce the number of shares outstanding, and so reduce liquidity. By that reasoning, stock splits should increase the value of shares.

(3) Share repurchases are bad for the economy -- companies should use the money to create jobs instead. Uh-huh. So dividend increases must be bad too.

(4) Share repurchases discriminate among shareholders -- only some get any money. Gosh, then dividend reinvestment plans must be bad too.

George

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 11 Feb 2012 20:38
by DenisD
ghariton wrote:On the negative side, share repurchases can be initiated by management as a way to increase the value of stock options they own.
Of course, management never increases dividends to increase the value of stock options they own. :wink:

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 25 Mar 2012 20:42
by DenisD
Seems a pity to waste all those buyback numbers I've posted over the years. So I've decided to combine them all into one spreadsheet.

Each column shows the % reduction in shares outstanding for a six-month period for each company. A positive number means shares have been bought back.

Hopefully, I didn't make any mistakes.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 25 Mar 2012 21:32
by ghariton
Thank you for all the work, DenisD.

Silence does not mean that your work goes unappreciated. :thumbsup:

George

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 22:14
by DenisD
Time for the spring refresh of my Canadian large-cap screen.

One of the inputs to the screen is the % of shares bought back over the previous year. I thought some of you would be interested in who's buying back shares.

The table below shows the % reduction in shares outstanding for the two previous six-month periods for the selected companies. A positive number means shares have been bought back. I copied the shares outstanding from the Mar11, Sep11 and Mar12 issues of TSX eReview magazine.

If companies have multiple share classes, I either added the numbers together or weighted the classes by the trading price. Some classes appear to be unlisted. In that case, I either copied the additional number of shares from the quarterly report or just used the one class listed.

Code: Select all

Symbol    Name                           Mar/12  Sep/11
MG.TO     Magna International               3.5     0.6
RCI-B.TO  Rogers Communications             2.6     2.4
MRU.TO    Metro Inc.                        1.9     1.5
SC.TO     Shoppers Drug Mart                1.7     0.9
ATD-B.TO  Alimentation Couche-Tard          1.7     0.5
OCX.TO    Onex Corporation                  1.6     1.1
SAP.TO    Saputo Inc.                       1.6     0.8
CNR.TO    Canadian National Railway         1.5     2.6
THI.TO    Tim Hortons                       1.1     4.7
PJC-A.TO  Jean Coutu Group (PJC)            1.1     3.5
SU.TO     Suncor Energy                     1.0    -0.2
TCK-B.TO  Teck Resources                    0.8     0.0
WN.TO     George Weston                     0.7     0.0
NA.TO     National Bank of Canada           0.4     1.2
QBR-B.TO  Quebecor Inc.                     0.4     0.8
IGM.TO    IGM Financial                     0.4     0.7
TRI.TO    Thomson Reuters                   0.3     0.4
BAM-A.TO  Brookfield Asset Management       0.2     0.0
BCE.TO    BCE Inc.                          0.2    -3.3
L.TO      Loblaw Companies                  0.1    -0.4
FFH.TO    Fairfax Financial Holdings        0.0     0.1
BA.TO     Bell Aliant                       0.0     0.0
BBD-B.TO  Bombardier Inc.                   0.0     0.0
CCO.TO    Cameco Corp.                      0.0     0.0
COS.TO    Canadian Oil Sands                0.0     0.0
CTC-A.TO  Canadian Tire Corporation         0.0     0.0
UFX.TO    Domtar Canada Paper               0.0     0.0
EMP-A.TO  Empire Company                    0.0     0.0
ECA.TO    EnCana Corp.                      0.0     0.0
FTT.TO    Finning International             0.0     0.0
IMO.TO    Imperial Oil                      0.0     0.0
POW.TO    Power Corp of Canada              0.0     0.0
PWF.TO    Power Financial Corp.             0.0     0.0
VT.TO     Viterra Inc.                      0.0     0.0
CU.TO     Canadian Utilities                0.0    -0.1
GWO.TO    Great-West Lifeco                 0.0    -0.1
TLM.TO    Talisman Energy                   0.0    -0.3
IFC.TO    Intact Financial                  0.0   -17.6
ACO-X.TO  ATCO Ltd.                        -0.1     0.4
AGU.TO    Agrium                           -0.1     0.0
ABX.TO    Barrick Gold Corp.               -0.1    -0.1
BPO.TO    Brookfield Office Properties     -0.1    -0.1
CVE.TO    Cenovus Energy                   -0.1    -0.1
K.TO      Kinross Gold                     -0.1    -0.1
G.TO      Goldcorp Inc.                    -0.1    -1.3
SNC.TO    SNC-Lavalin Group                -0.2     0.0
T.TO      TELUS Corp.                      -0.2    -0.2
TRP.TO    TransCanada Corp.                -0.2    -0.5
NXY.TO    Nexen Inc.                       -0.3    -0.2
POT.TO    Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan     -0.3    -0.2
MX.TO     Methanex Corp.                   -0.3    -0.5
RY.TO     Royal Bank of Canada             -0.3    -0.7
IAG.TO    Industrial Alliance Ins & Fin    -0.3    -7.4
BMO.TO    Bank of Montreal                 -0.3   -12.3
CNQ.TO    Canadian Natural Resources       -0.4    -0.2
CP.TO     Canadian Pacific Railway         -0.6    -0.1
MFC.TO    Manulife Financial               -0.7    -0.6
ENB.TO    Enbridge Inc.                    -0.7    -0.7
SJR-B.TO  Shaw Communications              -0.7    -0.7
PWT.TO    Penn West Petroleum              -0.7    -1.5
TD.TO     TD Bank                          -0.7    -1.8
TA.TO     TransAlta Corp.                  -0.8    -0.8
CM.TO     CIBC                             -1.0    -1.0
SLF.TO    Sun Life Financial Inc.          -1.3    -1.0
FTS.TO    Fortis Inc.                      -1.4    -6.6
HSE.TO    Husky Energy                     -1.8    -6.5
BNS.TO    Bank of Nova Scotia              -4.7    -0.7

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 26 Apr 2012 19:28
by newguy
What's the tax effect of buybacks? If the company has to use after tax money then you get taxed again when you take the capital gain. Since they use after tax money for dividends you get a gross up and a credit to make it come out even. Are share buybacks really more tax efficient or is it just because you get to delay paying it?

newguy

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 26 Apr 2012 22:26
by AltaRed
I look at it differently. The company uses after tax income to re-invest by buying back shares (to improve value per share and thus share price) or they re-invest it in the business to create additional share holder value (and thus share price). The real question is which investment provides best shareholder value, and the answer is... it depends.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 06 May 2012 17:58
by Phil D
The best use of a company's cash should be to invest in return projects to grow the company. However, if a company has excess cash remaining after meeting all its project needs then both dividends and share repurchases are ways to return that cash to shareholders. Many companies would prefer to keep their dividends relatively consistent since shareholders value the regular income stream. This leaves share repurchases as a flexible way to return cash amounts excess to projects and dividends.

In most provinces dividends are taxed slightly higher than capital gains but it is fairly close. But, of course, the whole of a dividend is taxable versus just the capital gain portion of repurchased shares.

Share repurchases cannot add value in and of themselves. If a company's value is some multiple of their earnings plus net cash on hand, then after using some of that cash to repurchase shares, the incremental eps is exactly offset by the reduction in cash to leave the share value unchanged.

However, if a company's earnings grow subsequent to the repurchases then the remaining shareholders will see higher growth in the share price than they would have done without the repurchases, assuming an unchanged earnings multiple. Of course, if earnings fall then they will see a larger drop in share price.

Re: Share Buybacks

Posted: 05 Oct 2012 23:20
by DenisD
Time for the fall refresh of my Canadian large-cap screen.

One of the inputs to the screen is the % of shares bought back over the previous year. I thought some of you would be interested in who's buying back shares.

The table below shows the % reduction in shares outstanding for the two previous six-month periods for the selected companies. A positive number means shares have been bought back. I copied the shares outstanding from the Sep11 and Mar12 issues of TSX eReview magazine.

Unfortunately, the Calgary Public Library had a fire on the 3rd floor about 3 weeks ago. It's been closed ever since. The 3rd floor is where all the good stuff is, including the TSX eReview magazine. So, I've copied the shares outstanding for Sep12 from TMXMoney.com. The differences between the magazine and website have been insignificant the last 2 or 3 times. But I will compare them when the magazine is available.

If companies have multiple share classes, I either added the numbers together or weighted the classes by the trading price. Some classes appear to be unlisted. In that case, I either copied the additional number of shares from the quarterly report or just used the one class listed.

I've added the current year numbers to my spreadsheet containing historical buybacks for each company.

Code: Select all

Symbol    Name                           Sep/12  Mar/12
MRU.TO    Metro Inc.                        2.5     1.9
SC.TO     Shoppers Drug Mart                2.1     1.7
RCI-B.TO  Rogers Communications             1.8     2.6
THI.TO    Tim Hortons                       1.7     1.1
CNR.TO    Canadian National Railway         1.6     1.5
SU.TO     Suncor Energy                     1.5     1.0
SAP.TO    Saputo Inc.                       1.2     1.6
PJC-A.TO  Jean Coutu Group (PJC)            1.0     1.1
IGM.TO    IGM Financial                     1.0     0.4
QBR-B.TO  Quebecor Inc.                     0.8     0.4
CNQ.TO    Canadian Natural Resources        0.5    -0.4
TRI.TO    Thomson Reuters                   0.3     0.3
ACO-X.TO  ATCO Ltd.                         0.3    -0.1
OCX.TO    Onex Corporation                  0.2     1.6
BCE.TO    BCE Inc.                          0.2     0.2
SNC.TO    SNC-Lavalin Group                 0.1    -0.2
TCK-B.TO  Teck Resources                    0.0     0.8
WN.TO     George Weston                     0.0     0.7
L.TO      Loblaw Companies                  0.0     0.1
COS.TO    Canadian Oil Sands                0.0     0.0
CTC-A.TO  Canadian Tire Corporation         0.0     0.0
CU.TO     Canadian Utilities                0.0     0.0
EMP-A.TO  Empire Company                    0.0     0.0
ECA.TO    EnCana Corp.                      0.0     0.0
GWO.TO    Great-West Lifeco                 0.0     0.0
IMO.TO    Imperial Oil                      0.0     0.0
IFC.TO    Intact Financial                  0.0     0.0
POW.TO    Power Corp of Canada              0.0     0.0
PWF.TO    Power Financial Corp.             0.0     0.0
TLM.TO    Talisman Energy                   0.0     0.0
VT.TO     Viterra Inc.                      0.0     0.0
BA.TO     Bell Aliant                       0.0     0.0
FFH.TO    Fairfax Financial Holdings        0.0     0.0
ABX.TO    Barrick Gold Corp.                0.0    -0.1
MG.TO     Magna International              -0.1     3.5
BBD-B.TO  Bombardier Inc.                  -0.1     0.0
CCO.TO    Cameco Corp.                     -0.1     0.0
AGU.TO    Agrium                           -0.1    -0.1
BPO.TO    Brookfield Office Properties     -0.1    -0.1
CVE.TO    Cenovus Energy                   -0.1    -0.1
G.TO      Goldcorp Inc.                    -0.1    -0.1
TRP.TO    TransCanada Corp.                -0.1    -0.2
IAG.TO    Industrial Alliance Ins & Fin    -0.1    -0.3
POT.TO    Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan     -0.1    -0.3
BAM-A.TO  Brookfield Asset Management      -0.2     0.2
FTT.TO    Finning International            -0.2     0.0
K.TO      Kinross Gold                     -0.2    -0.1
T.TO      TELUS Corp.                      -0.2    -0.2
NXY.TO    Nexen Inc.                       -0.2    -0.3
RY.TO     Royal Bank of Canada             -0.2    -0.3
UFX.TO    Domtar Canada Paper              -0.3     0.0
MX.TO     Methanex Corp.                   -0.5    -0.3
NA.TO     National Bank of Canada          -0.6     0.4
SJR-B.TO  Shaw Communications              -0.7    -0.7
CM.TO     CIBC                             -0.7    -1.0
FTS.TO    Fortis Inc.                      -0.7    -1.4
MFC.TO    Manulife Financial               -0.8    -0.7
PWT.TO    Penn West Petroleum              -0.9    -0.7
TD.TO     TD Bank                          -0.9    -0.7
SLF.TO    Sun Life Financial Inc.          -1.1    -1.3
CP.TO     Canadian Pacific Railway         -1.3    -0.6
BMO.TO    Bank of Montreal                 -1.5    -0.3
HSE.TO    Husky Energy                     -1.7    -1.8
ENB.TO    Enbridge Inc.                    -2.0    -0.7
BNS.TO    Bank of Nova Scotia              -3.8    -4.7
ATD-B.TO  Alimentation Couche-Tard         -4.5     1.7
TA.TO     TransAlta Corp.                 -11.8    -0.8