Citi: Shrinking Share Count Is Most Intriguing Behavior

As we’ve recently reported, buybacks have outperformed the market for nearly twenty years, but Citi analyst Tobias Levkovich thinks this emphasis is misplaced. “It is the consistency of shrinking the share count that appears to be most intriguing since share repurchases alone can be offset by option grants that dilute shareholders or poor acquisitions using stock,” he writes. Who is going to issue dividends or shrink the float? The problem is that determining who is going to release dividends or shrink the share count ahead of time isn’t always obvious. Major investors like Carl Icahn can take a big enough…