Dividends Versus Share Buybacks « Points and Figures
Dividends on the other hand actually are good for investors despite the tax consequences. The investor that reinvests their dividends rather than accept a check does better over the long haul than investors that do with buybacks. Dividends also tangibly increase total return on a stock-buybacks don’t. Dividends are cheap for a company to administer, buybacks are not. Traditionally, distributed dividends point to the health of a company-buybacks don’t.
In my opinion, stock buybacks are generally bad for investors.