When Warren Buffett speaks, Wall Street listens — and the “Oracle of Omaha” issued a full-throated defense of stock buybacks in his latest annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. That’s why we’re shining a light on the Club holdings that repurchase the most stock, including Morgan Stanley (MS), Meta Platforms (META) and Apple (AAPL). Buffett’s argument, which mirrors the Club’s thinking, is simple: “When the share count goes down, your interest in our many businesses goes up. Every small bit helps if repurchases are made at value-accretive prices,” Buffett wrote in the letter , published Feb. 25, alongside Berkshire’s fourth-quarter earnings report. In other words, buybacks allow investors to own a greater percentage of a company’s earnings without needing to spend more money on additional shares. Not all repurchases are created equal, as Buffett rightfully pointed out in his much-anticipated annual letter. They can be done at irresponsible times, such as when a company’s stock price is overvalued. But, in general, buybacks are a beneficial tool at management’s disposable. “When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive),” wrote Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman and CEO. Buffett has overseen Berkshire, a multinational holding company whose myriad subsidiaries span most corners of the U.S. economy, since 1965. He is one of the most successful investors and wealthiest in the world, with a net worth over $100 billion. For more than a year, the Club’s investment mantra has emphasized companies that return cash to shareholders via buybacks and dividends. “It really helps to know that’s what Buffett is focused on, so we’re of course going to put our portfolio through the Buffett test,” Jim Cramer said on Monday’s “Homestretch ,” our daily afternoon audio feature to get members ready for the last hour of trading. He added: “We like to test ours in every single way.” So, here’s a full breakdown of buyback activity for the 35 companies in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust in one big chart. Notes on methodology: All numbers are courtesy of Factset. For each company, the repurchase activity covers the firm’s most recent four quarters of reported results. Most Club holdings have reported for the current earnings season, but we’ve yet to hear from Costco (COST) and Salesforce (CRM). Those two companies report on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, meaning there is a slight lag on their four-quarter buyback activity. Market capitalization figures are based on Friday’s closing prices. Context Here’s some additional color on the buyback activities of seven key Club holdings. Devon Energy (DVN): The oil-and-gas producer slowed down its pace of buybacks in the second half of 2022 after buying Validus Energy for roughly $1.8 billion. Devon bought back…
Read More: This chart shows what Club stocks spend on buybacks