$Lowe's(LOW)$ 32% reduction in shares outstanding since FY17 ~$53 B in buybacks
~$11 B current buyback authorization
~$127 B current market cap
These buybacks have materially improved FCF/share (next tweets)
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LOW Debt
First the caveat
Buybacks have largely been financed by debt
Net debt increased from $6B at the end of FY17 to $33 B at the end of FY24
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LOW Cash flow picture
Cash flow from operations (OCF) peaked in FY20 FY24 saw the reversal of a downtrend in OCF
Although FY24 OCF is still 13% lower than FY20
FCF/share has improved 10% vs FY20 (see previous tweet)
Effect of shares outstanding reduction from buybacks
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LOW FCF/share
FY24 saw record FCF/share
+10% FCF/share vs previous record in FY20
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LOW Dividends
A side benefit of shares outstanding reduction has been the sustained dividend payout (33% in FY24 - see previous tweet)
Since FY19 Dividend per share ($)+118%
Dividend payments ($ B) +59%
Gap is from shares being retired and respective dividend not paid
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