Andy Kern over at Berkshire Ruminations sent me this share repurchase study from 1998 in response to my Home Depot (HD) post. It is very detailed and informative.
The authors found:
– 74% to 82% of firm announcing buybacks actually repurchase the number if shares they originally intend to within 3 years.
– 57% repurchased more than they originally intended to 3 years later
– 30% repurchased more than twice the original amount 3 years later.
You can read it here.
Now, seeing as the current record buyback binge in corporate America is a 21st century phenomenon, I want to see any new studies out there for comparison of the results. Basically, has there been an improvement or a deterioration in the percentage of firms that announce and then complete share buybacks in a reasonable time frame. This one, while very good is from 1998 and covers the time period from 1981-94 and the authors do admit “some information was not available for 141 out of 591 firms before 1984”. I would imagine in today’s information rich era, this is no longer a problem and getting these studies out requires much less time and energy.
If anyone has one please email me or post it to the comments section of the blog.
Thank you