Latest news with #sharebuybacks
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
3 Reasons to Buy This Top Auto Stock Before It's Too Late
General Motors has reduced its shares outstanding dramatically. GM is rapidly expanding its EV sales in the U.S. and lowering costs. The automaker's restructured business in China brought positive results. 10 stocks we like better than General Motors › General Motors (NYSE: GM) may be an afterthought when it comes to investments for many, but it may also be the best automotive stock for investors to get their hands on today. Not only does the company thrive with sales of full-size trucks and SUVs, but it's making strong progress with electric vehicles (EVs) and returning value to shareholders at an impressive clip. Here are three reasons GM might be the next stock you want to buy. There are two primary ways for companies to return value to shareholders: through a dividend or through share repurchases. In the case of share repurchases, as the company buys back shares and retires them, the earnings per share increases, which drives the value up. General Motors has been incredible at returning value to shareholders through share buybacks, and you can see how the stock price has responded as the number of shares outstanding declines. It started in late 2023, when GM announced a significant $10 billion accelerated share repurchase program, which was completed by the fourth quarter. GM approved a further $6 billion buyback in June 2024, and the automaker also increased its dividend by 25%. The automaker's cash flow is capable of handling such movements. GM generated $14 billion in adjusted automotive free cash flow in 2024 and returned roughly $7.6 billion to shareholders via dividends and buybacks, leaving plenty of liquidity for growth and strategic moves to offset tariff impacts. When it comes to EVs, it's not really a matter of if, but when they consume the roads globally. It's a tricky thing to balance sales of highly profitable gasoline-powered SUVs and trucks while trying to sell EVs, but General Motors has found a balance. While posting strong financial results driven by its internal combustion engine line, the company also posted EV sales up 94% during the first quarter, grabbing an impressive 10.4% market share in the U.S. That parks GM in the No. 2 spot for EV sales in the U.S., and marks Chevrolet as the industry's fastest-growing EV brand, driven by the Equinox and Blazer EVs. In even better news, roughly 60% of the EV buyers are trading in a non-GM vehicle, bringing more consumers into the brand. GM will still need to work diligently on reducing EV costs, especially batteries, for this to become an important chunk of its business, but it is the future of the industry, and GM is well-positioned in the U.S. for now. China's market has been engulfed in a brutal price war, driven by a plethora of competitors in a blossoming EV market, and foreign automakers have paid the price -- they are struggling in China right now, big time. Fortunately, GM recognized this early and made a massive restructuring effort, which included rightsizing operations, launching new vehicles, and optimizing dealer costs and inventory. All in, the charge would cost GM $5 billion in restructuring costs, but it did manage to report encouraging results in China during the final quarter of 2024. Following the introduction of new vehicles, sales sequentially surged 40% during the fourth quarter, the largest jump since the second quarter of 2022. As far as General Motors goes, the company is firing on all cylinders right now. Not only is it selling gasoline-powered vehicles at a high clip, and highly profitably, the company is expanding its EV prowess. It's also buying back shares at a clip so rapidly that its stock has only soared as a result. All this means General Motors is one of, if not the top, automotive stocks to buy now. Before you buy stock in General Motors, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and General Motors wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Daniel Miller has positions in General Motors. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Reasons to Buy This Top Auto Stock Before It's Too Late was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Ryanair boss's $110 mln payday required big lift
LONDON, May 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The end of the month typically means payday for workers across the world. But Michael O'Leary is going one better: the Ryanair (RYA.I), opens new tab CEO on Thursday hit a stock price goal that paves the way to share options potentially worth over 100 million euros. Investors in many ways have O'Leary to thank for the airline's longtime outperformance. But the decision to extend the scheme part way through – and the use of share buybacks – is a good example of how boards can make sure bulky executive pay reaches its destination. Like a pilot 'going around' to attempt a second landing, the share options plan is in many ways a do-over. Announced in early 2019 as part of O'Leary's new contract, it had two tracks. It gave him the option to purchase 10 million shares at 11.12 euros apiece if he could get the share price above 21 euros for a 28-day period, or achieve an annual profit after tax of 2 billion euros, before the end of March 2024. But after Covid-19 tanked the airline industry and Ryanair's share price languished around 13 euros, the board in late 2022 took the decision to extend the plan into 2028, while bumping the after-tax profit target up to 2.2 billion euros. In its most straightforward sense, the scheme has worked: having now ticked off the 28-day streak, O'Leary is incentivised to get the share price up by as much as possible into 2028, when – on the added condition he remains at the company until the end of July that year – his options vest, giving him the right to pocket shares at the agreed 11.12 euro price. Ryanair investors also get to hang on to their superstar CEO for a few more years, who since taking the helm in 1994 has transformed the company into Europe's largest listed airline by market capitalisation. Still, one criticism of incentive packages based on simple share price targets is that they're often out of a CEO's direct control. Indeed, vaulting the 21 euro mark has required more than a few tailwinds. Short-haul leisure travel recovered, opens new tab more quickly from the pandemic than long-haul and business flying, for example, while delays in the delivery of new aircraft from Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab left Ryanair with more cash than expected, much of which was returned to shareholders. In its latest financial year, the company undertook around 1.5 billion euros of share buybacks, compared with zero buybacks during the previous four years. Most glaringly, the targets would probably not have been achieved had Ryanair's board not opted to extend the terms, given it delivered 1.9 billion euros of profit after tax – 100 million euros below the original target – in the year to March 2024, while the share price goal has only just been hit now, having averaged around 17 euros during the same 12-month period. Granted, investors may not bemoan this shifting of the goalposts. Analysts are expecting Ryanair to post almost 2.3 billion euros of profit after tax in the year to March 2027, according to forecasts compiled by Visible Alpha, meaning the new targets would probably have been met through either route anyway. But the extension of the scheme and use of share buybacks mean this particular early arrival comes through a grey cloud. Follow @Breakingviews, opens new tab on X
Globe and Mail
24-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Here's Why UPS Should Cut Its Dividend
There's a good case for buying UPS (NYSE: UPS) stock, and an even better one for buying the stock if it cuts its dividend. It's not just about ensuring that the dividend is adequately supported by cash flow generation in the short term; it's also essential to guarantee that management can fully capitalize on the growth opportunities created by its current actions. Not just a near-term consideration In a previous article on UPS, I outlined how management's pre-Liberation Day guidance for 2025 called for $5.7 billion in free cash flow (FCF) when its dividend payment is $5.5 billion, and management plans $1 billion in share buybacks. However, since then, the tariff escalation has undoubtedly impacted the global economy, and UPS declined to update its full-year guidance on its first-quarter earnings call in late April. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » As such, it's not difficult to see that UPS might be unable to cover its dividend with FCF if it misses its FCF estimate. As for the share buybacks, management has considered debt-financing them as the dividend on the stocks repurchased could be higher than the after-tax debt cost. But here's the thing. Following the same logic, it's not going to make sense to debt-finance a dividend (which UPS may have to do if its FCF falls short of guidance) if the dividend yield is more than the after-tax debt cost. Moreover, there's another major reason to cut the dividend, and it doesn't stem from sustainability considerations. Instead, it comes from the argument that it's in the best interests of shareholders because it frees up resources for management to generate value for them. UPS and generating returns from its assets Fellow writer Sean Williams believes UPS might be a stock Warren Buffett is buying, and in one aspect, UPS is the kind of stock he might buy. Buffett is known for buying stocks that can improve their return on equity, or assets, but not necessarily their revenue or earnings. It's doing so as part of its plan to repurpose its network to handle more selected and higher-margin deliveries. This plan has a few key parts. A conscious decision to reduce low or negative-margin deliveries for by 50% from the start of 2025 to the second half of 2026 -- Amazon made up 11.8% of total company revenue in 2024. Investments in automation and smart facilities will increase productivity, allow UPS to consolidate less-productive facilities, and lower the cost per package. Management plans to grow its small and medium-sized business (SMBs) and healthcare revenue and shift to higher-margin deliveries. On the investor day presentation in March 2024, management outlined plans to double its healthcare revenue from $10 billion in 2023 to $20 billion in 2026 , partly by making acquisitions. These plans sacrifice revenue for increased profitability while consolidating facilities to improve productivity. This all points to increased returns on equity (RoE) and capital employed, as UPS will earn more for less. Why UPS should cut its dividend, part II That's fine and worthy, but there are a couple of key considerations here. First, UPS is making acquisitions in healthcare to achieve its aims. They include the acquisition of European complex healthcare logistics solution provider Frigo-Trans and BPL for an undisclosed sum in January , and an agreement to buy Andlauer Healthcare (logistics and cold chain transportation) for $1.6 billion in April. That said, UPS could be more aggressive in acquisitions to hit its $20 billion target in 2026 if it didn't pay such a large dividend. Second, assuming UPS achieves its aim of generating more from less and improves its potential (RoE) by having a more productive network in place, at this point, it would make sense to start plowing back investment into the business to benefit from an improved ability to generate returns. That's more challenging to do if the company continues paying such a large amount of its earnings and FCF in dividends. Arguably, cutting the dividend would free up resources to invest more in doing things like increasing SMB and healthcare exposure. Investing for growth Ultimately, investors buy equities because they believe management can generate better returns with the money than they can. Suppose UPS is going to achieve its aim of improving profitability and return on equity or assets. In that case, investing more makes sense rather than paying a high percentage of its earnings or cash flow out in dividends. As such, cutting the dividend might encourage the market to reset expectations and feel more positively about UPS' long-term growth prospects rather than stress over its dividend sustainability. Should you invest $1,000 in United Parcel Service right now? Before you buy stock in United Parcel Service, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and United Parcel Service wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $640,662!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $814,127!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is963% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to168%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends United Parcel Service. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
