Do you agree with the new disclosure rules about treasury stock purchases? What are some potential unintended consequences?
Here’s another on buybacks. Good article about Penske forgoing acquisitions (too expensive) and returning excess cash. Also good video giving historical perspective on buybacks.
Companies continue aggressive repurchases and dividends. If you were CEO, why would you want to do this? If you were a policy maker/politician, what would be your reaction?
If you were CFO, how would you set the budget for share repurchases? What factors would you consider? What are the accounting ramifications?
For the stock buybacks, where did firms’ excess cash come from to buy back the stock? Does it matter if it was from internally generated cash flows, or if it was borrowed? What are the future implications?
Do you agree with some of the opinions that Apple lost $9 billion on share repurchases? Why or why not?
If you were in the C-suite, what would you recommend be done about the “problem” of so much cash? How would you spend it? How would you decide? Do you believe it is true that European “finance chiefs . . . are often more fiscally conservative than American counterparts”? If so, why do you think that is?
If you were CEO/CFO and repatriated cash, what would you do with the money? How would you decide? What pressures would you face from the different constituencies?
Why do you think share repurchases are lower? If you were CFO, what factors would you consider in deciding whether to repurchase your firm’s stock?
If you were part of management, what criteria would be included in your decision about share repurchases?
SAP’s free cash flow increased, giving the company additional financial flexibility. Why do you think the European investor base would rather SAP reduce debt than increase share buybacks? Is being “debt-free” an “optimal” position for any company? Does is matter if it is European or not?
Can you follow the arithmetic supporting the claim that borrowing to fund pension plan assets can boost EPS more than borrowing to buy back stocks? What is your opinion about this financial strategy?
What are some of the reasons so many firms have increased dividends and share repurchases? What are some long term implications of this?
“Should” companies be investing more in capex and R&D, rather than buying back stock? Is it really a problem? How would you determine whether it is a problem, and for whom is it one?
If you can buy back stock to save the dividend yield, are you better off if you had to borrow the money to do the buyback? How does the deductibility of interest affect your analysis?
Do you agree with the position in the editorial piece that General Motors should consider taxpayers ahead of stockholders and not buy back shares, at least at this point in their recovery?
Carl Icahn wants Tim Cook (Apple’s CEO) to buyback $150 billion in stock, since Apple has so much liquidity on its balance sheet. Do you agree with Mr. Icahn’s reasoning? If you were Tim Cook, what considerations would you have before agreeing to buy back so much stock?
Samsung is being criticized by analysts for not being “shareholder friendly” and returning more cash to shareholders. Do you agree? How much cash “should” Samsung return to shareholders? Do you think whether Samsung returns more cash or not will have any affect on the share price?
Do you agree with Microsoft’s plans for increasing the dividend and authorizing the share repurchase? What does this indicate about Microsoft’s growth options? Do you believe that the impetus to increase the dividend is to placate “activist shareholders”? How does one become an activist shareholder?
