- Corporate chiefs announced $104.3B in planned buybacks in February, the most since TrimTabs started tracking the data in 1995, and nearly double the $55B from a year earlier.
- It's bullish or bearish depending on your point of view, but it can't be denied that the feverish pace of repurchases is occurring at valuations more stretched than they've been in a number of years. “If you’re a contrarian, this level of buyback activity spooks you a little bit because the track record is not impressive in terms of companies’ ability to buy stock at the right price at the right time," says Todd Lowenstein.
- The last time buybacks hit a monthly record was July 2006 at $99.8B. Over the next 14 months, the S&P advanced 23%. After that ... let's not go there.
- Two buyback ETFs continue to beat the S&P 500, with the PKW up 4.2% over the last three months, and the TTFS up 3.2%. The S&P 500 is ahead 1.2%. State Street has a new entry, the SPDR S&P 500 Buyback ETF (NYSEARCA:SPYB).