Typically,
stock buybacks are just another way of paying dividends, and
dividends are just another way of doing a stock buyback.
Typically,
when folks get upset about corporate stock buybacks, they are saying little more than “I am new to this, and never heard about it before, but Joe Biden is against it so I’m gonna be against it too . . . and all outraged.”
But this, (the case of Lowe’s Home Improvement) is not typical.
Lowe’s is a deeply indebted company
Assets $41.8b
Liabilities $56.8b
Net Worth neg. $15b
As of 1/31/2024, the company reported (only) $614m, in unrestricted cash-on-hand.
.
.
.
A company makes $7.7b and does $8.9b in buybacks and dividends?
Nope! Smells like garbage!
Spending more than one’s profits on stock buybacks and dividends is a dumb thing to do, especially for a company with a negative net worth.
I guess maybe the bosses want to be sure they are not a takeover target.
Their current market cap is $138b which is large by takeover standards, but not unheard-of.
