Top Ten S&P 500 Buybacks of 2010

[Chart: Annual stock buyback activity in U.S. equities.]

Buybacks have as many defenders as detractors. Are buybacks a sign of the C-suite winking at investors and sending the silent message that shares are undervalued and management has the stockholder's back? Or is the public face of the buyback masking the fact that much buyback activity is executed to manage corporate insider option packages? Analysis of buybacks as a potential bullish sign in any stock has to take into account company-specific and macroeconomic factors. It's a mistake to read a buyback as a signal from management that a stock is undervalued. It's unwise to assume the buyback surge is simply low interest rates providing appetizing access to cheap capital. On top of that, while much has been made of the healthy stock buyback market, it's more accurate to say that the buyback is back from the dead. The 2010 numbers are skewed by the fact that stock buybacks were sucked into a black hole in 2009 (as the chart above provided by market research firm Birinyi Associates details). Any resurgence in 2010 was bound to look impressive. Not that the numbers aren't impressive on a relative basis, though: just under $90 billion in announced share repurchase programs among the Top 10 S&P 500 Index stock buybacks of 2010. S&P predicts that the 2010 total share buyback activity will reach $300 billion. It's just that all things are relative. The $300 billion in buyback activity would compare to $137.6 billion in all of 2009. Also, for all the talk of the stock buyback, there hasn't been one announced share repurchase program in the past five quarters that makes the list of Top 20 all-time largest stock buybacks. Still, the $90 billion in stock buybacks announced by the Top 10 S&P 500 share repurchase companies in 2010 shows that buyback activity it still top-heavy. The $77.6 billion in second quarter share repurchases was a 40.5% increase over the first quarter of 2010, and 20 companies accounted for 50.3% of the buyback activity in the second quarter; in the first quarter that number was 59.8%. Is the stock buyback making set to make the proverbial lemonade from lemons, with S&P 500 Index flagship market brands trading at historically low P/E multiples? Or will the short-term benefits of spending cash on a stock buyback result in a longer-term souring of per-share growth? In any event, C-suites are lining up at the lemonade stand to buy back their shares. What follows is a ranking of the Top 10 S&P 500 stock buybacks announced so far in 2010 -- in ascending order of largest dollar amounts -- and some key issues to consider when trying to determine the impact of a buyback program on a stock investment. (Note: when dollar amounts were equal, buyback programs were ranked by percentage of shares outstanding.) Add Comment Tweet 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... Last » Next › var OutbrainPermaLink='http://www.thestreet.com/story/10875488/top-10-sp-500-buybacks-of-2010.html'; var OB_Template = "thestreetcom"; var OB_demoMode = false; var OBITm = "1276003897985"; var OB_langJS ='http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js'; if ( typeof(OB_Script)!='undefined' ) OutbrainStart(); else { var OB_Script = true; var str = ''; document.write(str); } adsonar_placementId=1341527;adsonar_pid=879768;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=600;adsonar_zh=280;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com'; Featured Photo Galleries var galljs = document.createElement('script'); galljs.src = 'http://js.thestreet-static.com/files/tsc/v2008/js/_1285795320100/min/pages/gallery.js'; var head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; head.appendChild(galljs); Go to Slideshow Archive Business News From The Web McDonald's May Drop Health Plan The Wall Street Journal. JPMorgan Suspending Foreclosures New York Times Nintendo Falls on Lowered Forecasts, 3DS Player Delay BusinessWeek Online Cost of Irish bank support rises BBC BHP, Rio Weigh Changing Or Delaying Iron-Ore Venture The Wall Street Journal. IMF spotlight on ratings agencies BBC Contest: Ideas for Goldman Sachs Ad Campaign The Big Picture Drilling Plans Off Cuba Stir Fears of Impact on Gulf New York Times Kmart expands layaway options for holiday season Los Angeles Times U.S. Cellular Joins Mobile Loyalty Galore BusinessWeek Online More Headlines TheStreet Premium Services Compare All Services Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS: Now any level of investor can trade right alongside a Wall Street pro — and enjoy 24/7 access to his portfolio! Learn More Login RealMoney Silver: Get Doug Kass's exclusive trading diary + 5 of TheStreet's top premium services including Action Alerts PLUS and RealMoney — all on one streamlined page. Learn More Login Stocks Under $10: Break into the market with small- and mid-cap stocks... all $10 or less! David Peltier tells you exactly which low-priced stocks he's buying and selling. Learn More Login OptionsProfits: Get 50+ trade ideas a week from the industry's top options experts. Plus — exclusive commentary on market trends and essential trading tools. Learn More Login Breakout Stocks: Find tomorrow's household names today. Bryan Ashenberg finds hidden gems in exciting up-and-coming markets that he believes are ready to break out! Learn More Login RealMoney Portfolio PLUS ETF Action Daily Swing Trade Market Movers ETF Shark Alerts TheStreet Ratings Top Gun Trader Top Stocks try { function DM_onSegsAvailable(segs, cust_id) { for(var i=0;i //* Global Functions *// function metadataRegisterNS(ns){ var nsParts = ns.split("."); var root = window; for(var i=0; i Dow Jones S&P 500 NASDAQ 10-Year Note 10,763.27 1,138.94 2,360.86 25.26 Oil * 81.67 DOWN 72.01 DOWN 5.79 DOWN 15.70 UP 0.20 10 Yr 2.53% SPDR Gold 127.30 -0.66% -0.51% -0.66% +0.80% Data delayed 20 minutes More From TheStreet function utmx_section(){}function utmx(){} (function(){var k='0275661539',d=document,l=d.location,c=d.cookie;function f(n){ if(c){var i=c.indexOf(n+'=');if(i>-1){var j=c.indexOf(';',i);return c.substring(i+n. length+1,j if(typeof(_gat)!='object')document.write('') try { var gwoTracker=_gat._getTracker("UA-4301613-3"); gwoTracker._trackPageview("/0275661539/test"); }catch(err){} utmx_section("Headline") if(typeof(_gat)!='object')document.write('') try { var gwoTracker=_gat._getTracker("UA-4301613-3"); gwoTracker._trackPageview("/0275661539/goal"); }catch(err){} adsonar_placementId=1341369;adsonar_pid=879768;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=320;adsonar_zh=280;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com'; Brokerage Partners YAHOO.util.Event.on(window,"load",function(){ setTimeout(function(){ TSCM.util.attachScript('scr_intellitxt','http://thestreet.us.intellitxt.com/intellitxt/front.asp?ipid=10685'); },1200); }); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js' %3E%3C/script%3E")); var beaconurl=""; if(TSC.util.isDefined(document)){ beaconurl=document.URL; try{ if (top.location != self.location){ beaconurl=document.referrer; } }catch(e){} } COMSCORE.beacon({ c1:2, c2:"6036014", c3:"", c4:beaconurl, c5:"", c6:"", c15:"" }); (function () { var d = new Image(1, 1); d.onerror = d.onload = function () { d.onerror = d.onload = null; }; d.src = ["//secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=us-thestreet&cg=tsc&cc=1&si=", escape(window.location.href), "&rp=", escape(document.referrer), "&ts=compact&rnd=", (new Date()).getTime()].join(''); })(); Free Newsletters from TheStreet

After the Bell

Before the Bell

Booyah! Newsletter

ETF Daily

Midday Bell

TSC Top Ten Stories Newsletter

Winners & Losers

We respect your privacy. Manage Newsletters Podcasts [Select Podcast] The Real Story Wall Street Confidential Podcast Daily RSS Updates

TheStreet Mobile Edition

Connect with TheStreet

YAHOO.util.Event.on(window,"load",function() { try { var loginlink = YAHOO.util.Dom.get("logonoff"); var cookie = new UserStatus().streetCookie; if(cookie.indexOf('|')== -1){ loginlink.setAttribute("href",""); loginlink.innerHTML = "Log In"; } } catch(e) {} }); TheStreet Mobile | MainStreet | StockPickr | BankingMyWay | Jim Cramer | Doug Kass | RealMoney | Try Action Alerts PLUS - FREE TheStreet Corporate | Home | About Us | Advertise | Customer Service | Employment | Privacy Policy | Sitemap | Topic Archive | Terms of Use document.write('

© 1996-2010 TheStreet.com, Inc. All rights reserved.TheStreet's enterprise databases running Oracle are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA.

Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data provided by Interactive Data. Company fundamental data provided by Morningstar. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Terms & Conditions. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

IDC calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

*Oil Data in Market Overview is Brent Crude Pricing

'); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz = "728x90"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype = "adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.includeDcopt = true; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting = ";;storytype=marketfeatures;kval=marketfeatures"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz = "233x224"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype = "adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.adtype = "cau"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting = ";;storytype=marketfeatures;kval=marketfeatures"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz = "336x280,336x850,300x250,468x648"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype = "adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting = ";;storytype=marketfeatures;kval=marketfeatures;;storytype=marketfeatures;kval=marketfeatures"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz="336x280,300x250"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.setSite("remnant.thestreet.com"); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting=";box=second"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype="adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); /** * function wrapper that places all DART ads using TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder * if positionToPlaceholder can't find the elements specified, it just returns and is ready for the next call */ TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds = function() { // DART 1 (banner) TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'ad728x90', placeholder: 'bannerContainer', flexibleHeight: false }); //DART 2 TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'customUnit', placeholder: 'cauContainer', flexibleHeight: true }); //DART 3 TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'boxAd', placeholder: 'boxAdContainer', flexibleHeight: true }); //DART 4 TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'secondBoxAd', placeholder: 'secondBoxAdContainer', flexibleHeight: false }); }; TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds() window.setTimeout(function() { TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds() }, 2000); window.onresize = function() { setTimeout(function() { TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds(); }, 1000); }; YAHOO.util.event.onDOMReady( YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle("lazyLoadedObjects", "visibility", "visible") ); var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-6534317-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); var gwoTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6534317-1"); getcombo_ga("5-0-0"); /* */ NM_SmartSite_ID = '1001'; var disqus_shortname = 'thestreet'; (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.src = 'http://disqus.com/forums/thestreet/count.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('HEAD')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('BODY')[0]).appendChild(s); }()); BF_BB_DATA = null; (function( ){ document.write(''); var sid="76IOF7"; var c=""; var b=""; BF_BB_SCRIPT=document.createElement('script'); BF_BB_SCRIPT.type="text/javascript"; BF_BB_SRC="http://buzzbox.buzzfeed.com/wd/BuzzBox?sid=" + sid + c + b + '&it=1&cb=' + (new Date()).getTime(); setTimeout(function() { document.getElementById('BF_BUZZBOX').appendChild(BF_BB_SCRIPT); BF_BB_SCRIPT.src=BF_BB_SRC; },1); })();

Before the Bell

Booyah! Newsletter

ETF Daily

Midday Bell

TSC Top Ten Stories Newsletter

Winners & Losers

TheStreet Mobile Edition

Connect with TheStreet

Read Full Article »