Dueling Fools: Dividends vs. Buybacks

Will stock repurchases doom disbursements? It's not my question. It's how Shirley Lazo kicked off her column in this past weekend's Barron's. With more and more companies turning to massive share repurchases -- in some years to the tune of eclipsing actual cash payouts -- she wonders if the gravy dividend days are over.

Ralph Casale and I debated the issue last year, but with Timothy Otte and Chuck Saletta battling it out over the same topic in an email discussion last month, we all felt it was best to revisit the topic with fresh opinions.

Chuck feels that cash dividends are the best move. Timothy prefers to see companies repurchase chunks of their outstanding shares.

Sure, you can have it both ways. In recent months, companies like CBS (NYSE: CBS ) , Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM ) , and Nucor (NYSE: NUE ) have declared wider payouts, padded with ambitious share buybacks.

However, not all companies are made out of money. They have choices to make. Dividends? Buybacks? Which Fool will deliver the winning argument? That's what this week's bout is all about.

Duel on!

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

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