Thanks to the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy, dividends and share buybacks have been all the rage in the recent years.
For instance, according to Birinyi Associates, large companies executed a record $141 billion in buybacks in April, the highest monthly amount ever, reports Anora Mahmudova for MarketWatch. In 2014, U.S. companies spent $679.5 billion on buybacks. Between 2009 and 2014, companies implemented $2.1 trillion in buybacks. [Buyback ETFs: Companies Fueling Their Own Stock Growth]
After shareholder returns rose over $903 billion in 2014, S&P Dow Jones Indices projects buybacks to rise at a “double-digit” rate this year and dividends to average another 14% annually, Financial Times reports. Many strategists forecast dividend returns to be above $400 billion for the year. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs anticipates buybacks to reach $604 billion. [Embracing Buyback ETFs]
Buybacks and dividends are nice and, more importantly, useful. Long-term returns prove as much, but investors should also be looking for those companies that are diligently reinvesting in their businesses to increase market share and competitive moat. The Elkhorn S&P 500 Capital Expenditures Portfolio (NasdaqGM: CAPX), the first ETF courtesy of Elkhorn Investments, helps investors with that objective.
CAPX tracks the S&P 500 Capex Efficiency Index, which culls 100 S&P 500 members based on capital expenditure efficiency.