Debt-Financed Share Buybacks Dwindle to Lowest Level Since 2009
- Companies refraining from a strategy that has drawn ire
- 2018 buybacks ‘highest quality of this cycle,’ JPMorgan says
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Corporate America is backing off from a funding strategy that’s been criticized for benefiting shareholders at the expense of creditors.
As tax cuts boosted profits and cash piles grew, companies looking to charge up their stock returns with buybacks are turning less to debt markets. At the end of last year, the proportion of repurchases funded by debt fell to 14 percent, the lowest level since 2009, data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. showed.