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Comment by CGMthrowaway

12 hours ago

A buyback is literally returning actual money to investors.

Close your eyes and picture a cash flow statement. Where do buybacks appear? Under investments, not under return of capital.

Now of course buybacks can work as a return of capital, but it's not quite as simple as "buybacks good" or "buybacks bad" or "buybacks = dividend". Sorry. It's not.

Please don't take this personally. Two different groups of people yelling here have got hold of different parts of the elephant. A few of them seem to blame me for mentioning the crazy word "elephant." Because the key word is surely "rope" or "tree". And since I don't use either of those words consistently, I must be detached from reality. What kind of idiot thinks a rope can be a tree?

That is making me feel like I've wasted my time.

It's not you, it's the whole discussion. If you've gotten this far, thanks for listening.