RESEARCH LIBRARY

Everything We Know About Small-Cap Buybacks

Ten deep-dive guides on how small-cap share repurchases actually work — SEC Rule 10b-18, ASRs, Dutch auctions, the buyback anomaly, and the metric every small-cap investor should be tracking.

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SEC FILINGS GUIDE

How to Read a 10b-18 Buyback Filing

Rule 10b-18 is the SEC's safe harbor for share repurchases. Here's how to read the filings that reveal it — line by line, table by table, and where small-cap investors ac...

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CAPITAL RETURN

Buybacks vs Dividends: Which Actually Returns More to Small-Cap Shareholders?

Dividends put cash in your account. Buybacks shrink the share count and boost the value of what's left. For small-cap investors, the math tips differently than it does for meg...

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ASR MECHANICS

Accelerated Share Repurchase (ASR) Explained

An ASR is a buyback on steroids — the company pays cash today, an investment bank delivers a large chunk of shares immediately, and the final settlement price gets averaged over a ...

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DATA STUDY

Do Stock Buybacks Predict Higher Returns? 40 Years of Data

The 'buyback anomaly' has been debated in academic finance for decades. Some studies find robust excess returns of 6-12% following announcements. Others say the effect is...

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SIGNAL COMPARISON

Insider Buying vs Company Buybacks: Which Signal Matters More?

Both signals get labeled 'insider bullish.' But an insider spending personal cash to buy shares on the open market is doing something very different from a company using ...

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STRATEGY PILLAR

Why Small-Cap Companies Do Buybacks: 6 Strategic Reasons

Apple buys back stock because it has too much cash. A $500M small-cap buys back stock for entirely different reasons — and understanding them tells you a lot about how management t...

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METHODOLOGY

Small-Cap Buyback Yield: The Metric to Track

Dividend yield gets all the attention. But for the small-caps where buybacks actually shrink share count, buyback yield tells you more about capital returns — and most screening to...

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SEC RULES

The 2026 SEC Buyback Disclosure Rules Explained

The SEC has spent the last three years rewriting how companies must disclose share repurchases. For small-cap investors, the changes tighten the timeline between when a company act...

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SIGNAL PIPELINE

How to Spot a 5% Buyback Authorization Before the Market Reacts

Most buyback news hits Bloomberg 10-40 minutes after the SEC receives the 8-K. Some hits days later, buried in an obscure filing type. Here's the workflow that gets you the si...

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TENDER OFFERS

Dutch Auction Tender Offer: Buffett's Buyback Trick

A Dutch auction tender offer is a buyback with a public price discovery mechanism built in. The company sets a range, shareholders name their price inside it, and the market reveal...

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