Investopedia: Are Buybacks A Bad Sign?

In the last decade or so, a common theme has emerged from U.S. boardrooms - when the going gets tough, companies start buying their stock. There are plenty of valid reasons for companies to repurchase their own stock, particularly when markets sell off and valuations drop. On the other hand, buybacks are not a terribly productive use of cash, and investors may be right to worry whether a spate of repurchase announcements in the face of a worsening economic environment is going to make things worse in the long run.

 

Who's Doing The Buying?  

The past few weeks have seen several large share repurchase announcements. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) take the cake with announcements of $1 billion and $5 billion plans, respectively. Maxim Integrated (Nasdaq:MXIM) is in for $750 million, Celgene (Nasdaq:CELG) added $2 billion to its plans, Marsh & McLennan (NYSE:MMC) is looking to buy back $1 billion, and Covidien (NYSE:COV) has a $2 billion plan in place.

 

Read the full piece through the link below: 

http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Are-Buybacks-A-Bad-Sign-LMT-LOW-CELG-COV-AAPL-MXIM-MMC0824.aspx