The "buyback" group spent over $6 billion on their share repurchases and for that improved the 5-year return on investment by about 1 percentage point. Had that $6 billion been paid out in dividends the investor in those companies could use those funds to increase their holdings, invest elsewhere or wait for even better opportunities. The $6 billion "dividend" would have improved the return on their combined $80 billion market capitalization by 7.5 percentage points using the closing market capitalization and by 20 percentage points using the opening aggregate investment and paralleled the "dividend" group's returns. All ships rise and fall in the same tides and the outcome was a policy driven outcome.
Dividends all the way. Buybacks only benefit those who are cashing out in a supposedly “undervalued” stock.
The "buyback" group spent over $6 billion on their share repurchases and for that improved the 5-year return on investment by about 1 percentage point. Had that $6 billion been paid out in dividends the investor in those companies could use those funds to increase their holdings, invest elsewhere or wait for even better opportunities. The $6 billion "dividend" would have improved the return on their combined $80 billion market capitalization by 7.5 percentage points using the closing market capitalization and by 20 percentage points using the opening aggregate investment and paralleled the "dividend" group's returns. All ships rise and fall in the same tides and the outcome was a policy driven outcome.