Tuesday Nov 17, 2015
Stock buybacks were a topic of one of our research papers last spring at the Student Research Forum. Here is an article detailing HP spending more than it earns on buying back stock. This decreases the number of shares outstanding and therefore increase earnings per share even though the company has not increased net revenue. Little is spent on innovation.
This is a good example of why a firm like HEB or Whataburger are not public companies. That way there is little pressure to produce continually higher earnings per share. I have had students working at those firms relay this message.
Stock buy backs have helped propel the Dow to 18,000. So this new high is not the result of innovation or more productivity. Rather it is the result of near zero interest rates allowing big firms to repurchase stocks at near no interest cost.
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