Share buybacks are still going strong. It’s really quite remarkable when you think about it. Payment to shareholders (Dividends and share buybacks) are running at an annual pace of $760 billion. At first blush, it is hard to see how share prices a can fall when corporations are soaking up stock like a dry sponge. But a contrarian would say when things cannot get any better, they won’t. Dividends and share buybacks just punched above the old peak that occurred in Q3-2017. This marked the top in everything at the time, and the financial crisis soon followed. The real question is, “are we at the same place?” Some indicators say yes, some say no.
Its earnings season and there is a boatload of company’s reporting this week. According to Thompon Reuters, analysts are expecting a 22% earnings growth rate over the same quarter last year. The big winner is expected to be the Oil & Gas secotr with a 1134.9% growth rate and the big loser is expected to the the utilities, with a 2.6% growth rate.
The following are the expectations for the companies reporting this week.
