Open Access

Ferdinand Schnitzer

• Many companies, especially in the United States, use share buybacks as part of their distribution policy to increase shareholder value. Even though share buybacks send a positive signal to the capital market participants often leading to higher stock prices, they are not always advantageous for investors. Little is known about share buybacks in the covid-19 pandemic 2020. This scientific paper aims to critically examine share buybacks concerning the current crisis by applying a benchmarking process to the performance of companies with huge share buyback programs. Moreover, experts in the field of study analyze the reasons for the performance and give an outlook as part of two further research questions. Using the S&P 500 as a benchmark, the analysis shows that these companies significantly underperformed during the crisis. According to the experts, capital-intensive, cyclical value stocks with low multiples and high debt have repurchased massive amounts in the past, leading to failure in investing in the business model's future viability and thus of the company. The crisis highlighted the weaknesses of share buybacks, which could lead to fundamental changes in the future. This research's findings are useful for investors who want to make more rational and differentiated investment decisions concerning share buybacks, as part of their due diligence process, during the next crisis.