投资者须警惕股票回购返潮

    不过，辉瑞并没有把盈利用于新药物的研发。相反，它一直忙于大量回购股票——2013年的回购规模为163亿美元。贝克尔指出，这样的做法在很大程度上可能和管理层有关，后者希望减少流通股数量，以便达到某些基于股价的业绩指标，因为它必须让人相信辉瑞的股票遭到了低估：

    贝克尔写道：

    我在观察辉瑞的年度激励计划后发现，激励资金的提供与否取决于公司的三项财务指标：总收入、经过调整的摊薄后每股盈利以及经营活动产生的现金流……2013年，辉瑞设法让经过调整的摊薄后每股盈利超过了目标，但主要是得益于该公司创纪录的股票回购活动，它的收入和现金流则稍低于目标值。

    虽然2013年对辉瑞来说不是特别辉煌，但高管们仍拿到了不菲的奖金，部分原因是辉瑞超额完成了每股盈利增长目标；但如果不是共同设法将流动股总数保持在较低水平，这个目标就无法实现。同时，2007年以来，研发投入占辉瑞收入的百分比逐年下降——这对该公司能否继续推出像立普妥和伟哥那样的主打产品来说不会是什么好消息。

    贝克尔还认为，汽车零部件零售商Autozone公司也有点儿过于喜欢回购股票，而且公司首席执行官威廉•罗兹是这项策略的主要受益者，原因是“他今后奖金的很大一部分都和摊薄后每股收益目标挂了钩”。和辉瑞一样，将资金用于股票回购迫使Autozone压缩了其他方面的投资——这家公司最近公布的财务数据中甚至出现了负现金流以及数亿美元的新增债务。

    贝克尔还指出，食品经销商西斯科公司（Sysco）、消费品供应商Jarden公司和餐饮集团Brinker International也没有回购股票的正当理由。不过，这样的公司肯定还有很多。随着股市继续上涨，投资者应该更加小心那些宁愿高价回购股票也不投资于经营活动的公司——这样的行为造成了实现资本收益的假象。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    But instead of pouring its profits into developing new drugs, Pfizer has been busy buying back huge amounts of its own stock -- $16.3 billion worth in 2013. Becker argues that the company's move may have as much to do with executives hoping to reduce the total number of shares in circulation so that they can meet certain stock-price based performance metrics as it has to do with the belief that Pfizer shares are undervalued. Writes Becker:    

    Looking at PFE's annual incentive program, a pool is funded based on the company's performance on three financial metrics: total revenue, adjusted diluted earnings per share and cash flow from operations ... largely with the aid of its record share repurchase activity,PFE managed to exceed the 2013 target goal for adjusted diluted EPS, while producing slightly below-target performance for its revenue and cash flow metrics.

    While Pfizer didn't have a particularly stellar 2013, its executives still received healthy bonuses, in part because Pfizer surpassed its goals for growth in earnings per share, a goal that wouldn't have been met without such a concerted effort to keep the total number of shares outstanding low. Meanwhile, Pfizer has reduced its investment in research and development as a percentage of revenue every year since 2007 -- which can't bode well for the company's prospects of launching the next Lipitor or Viagra.

    Becker believes Autozone (AZO) is also a bit too fond of share buybacks and that its CEO William Rhodes stands to be a chief beneficiary of the strategy, as "a material amount of his future compensation is tied to diluted EPS targets." Like Pfizer, the money to buy back shares has forced Autozone to reduce investment elsewhere in the company as it has recently reported a cash flow deficit and has had to take on hundreds of millions of dollars in new debt.

    Becker also points to companies like Sysco (SYY), Jarden (JAH), and Brinker International (EAT) as firms buying back for the wrong reasons, but there are surely many more out there. And as the stock market continues to rise, investors should be ever more wary of investing in companies that would rather buy back shares of their own stock at high valuations than invest in its business, the ostensible generator of capital gains.