This and stock buybacks make me question company valuations
Not just different, it specifically a lower tax rate assuming that the stockholder has held long enough to use the long term capital gains tax rate (which lower than the dividend tax rate).
I deeply feel buybacks shouldn’t be illegal but treated shamefully.
Instead of using profits to build up long term savings or fund R&D, they basically choose to do as little as possible.
There is no vision.
Isn't buying stock a form of long term savings? After all, they can always sell that stock when they want to "withdraw".
Sure, they may not get the same return as simply stashing it into a bank account, but it's also a statement of confidence in their future: "We are sure that our stock will outperform every other option there is for storing our money, because our long-term plans include extracting more profit from the market."