6 Stocks to Buy for Their Massive Stock Buybacks

Stock buybacks are big business. In the second quarter of 2019 alone, S&P 500 companies spent almost $165 billion on share repurchases - and that was 26% less than the record high spent in Q4 2018.

But it's still a big number. "While the decline is significant compared to 2018, it remains higher than the pre-2018 levels," writes Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Buybacks yield several benefits. Among them, given the simple math of calculating earnings per share (EPS) - total earnings divided by total shares outstanding - buying back shares can "juice" the EPS figure. Moreover, they tilt supply and demand in shareholders' favor. If a company takes shares off the market, in theory, it should make the remaining ones worth more.

But are stock buybacks a reason to buy? Not on their own. But they are one of several material signs - dividend programs, manageable or no debt, intelligent capital expenditures - that a company is putting its stock in a position to succeed.

Here are six stocks to buy that have spent considerably on stock buybacks over the past few years. Importantly, all six stock picks sport additional fundamentals that should help them make the most of a tailwind as