A Decade of Rewards: $51 Bil From Broadcom Stock

AVGO: Broadcom logo
AVGO
Broadcom

In the last decade, Broadcom (AVGO) stock has returned a notable $51 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.

As it turns out, AVGO stock has returned the 54th highest amount to shareholders in history.

  AVGO S&P Median
Dividends $0.0 $4.5 Bil
Share Repurchase $51 Bil $5.6 Bil
Total Returned $51 Bil $9.4 Bil
Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap 3.3% 24.4%

Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more stocks like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.

Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return

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  Total Money Returned As % Of Current Market Cap via Dividends via Share Repurchases
AAPL $847 Bil 23.0% $141 Bil $706 Bil
MSFT $368 Bil 11.2% $169 Bil $200 Bil
GOOGL $357 Bil 9.0% $15 Bil $342 Bil
XOM $218 Bil 38.1% $146 Bil $72 Bil
WFC $212 Bil 77.2% $58 Bil $153 Bil
META $183 Bil 11.9% $9.1 Bil $174 Bil
JPM $181 Bil 21.7% $0.0 $181 Bil
JNJ $159 Bil 30.3% $105 Bil $54 Bil
ORCL $158 Bil 31.7% $35 Bil $123 Bil
CVX $157 Bil 48.4% $99 Bil $58 Bil

For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking

What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.

That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for AVGO. (see Buy or Sell Broadcom Stock for more details)

Broadcom Fundamentals

  • Revenue Growth: 23.9% LTM and 25.2% last 3-year average.
  • Cash Generation: Nearly 42.1% free cash flow margin and 40.8% operating margin LTM.
  • Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for AVGO was 7.9%.
  • Valuation: Broadcom stock trades at a P/E multiple of 67.3

  AVGO S&P Median
Sector Information Technology
Industry Semiconductors
PE Ratio 67.3 24.5

   
LTM* Revenue Growth 23.9% 6.4%
3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth 25.2% 5.7%
Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y 7.9% 0.2%

   
LTM* Operating Margin 40.8% 18.8%
3Y Average Operating Margin 38.6% 18.4%
LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin 42.1% 13.5%

*LTM: Last Twelve Months

The table gives good overview of what you get from AVGO stock, but what about the risk?

AVGO Historical Risk

Broadcom isn’t immune to big drops. It fell about 27% in the 2018 correction, nearly 48% during the Covid crash, and around 35% in the inflation shock. Even with strong fundamentals, the stock still takes hits when the market turns sour. Good quality helps, but significant dips are part of the risk.

But the risk is not limited to major market crashes. Stocks fall even when markets are good – think events like earnings, business updates, and outlook changes. Read AVGO Dip Buyer Analyses to see how the stock has recovered from sharp dips in the past.

The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.