Ten-Year Tally: Microsoft Stock Delivers $368 Bil Gain
In the last decade, Microsoft (MSFT) stock has returned a massive $368 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, MSFT stock has returned the 2nd highest amount to shareholders in history.
| MSFT | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $169 Bil | $4.5 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $200 Bil | $5.7 Bil |
| Total Returned | $368 Bil | $9.4 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 10.1% | 26.1% |
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
| Total Money Returned | As % Of Current Market Cap | via Dividends | via Share Repurchases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $847 Bil | 19.9% | $141 Bil | $706 Bil |
| MSFT | $368 Bil | 10.1% | $169 Bil | $200 Bil |
| GOOGL | $357 Bil | 9.4% | $15 Bil | $342 Bil |
| XOM | $212 Bil | 42.4% | $145 Bil | $67 Bil |
| WFC | $212 Bil | 77.0% | $58 Bil | $153 Bil |
| META | $183 Bil | 11.2% | $9.1 Bil | $174 Bil |
| JPM | $181 Bil | 21.3% | $0.0 | $181 Bil |
| ORCL | $161 Bil | 28.3% | $34 Bil | $126 Bil |
| CVX | $157 Bil | 53.8% | $99 Bil | $58 Bil |
| JNJ | $157 Bil | 31.7% | $104 Bil | $52 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 MSFT. (see Buy or Sell Microsoft Stock for more details)
Microsoft Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: 15.6% LTM and 13.2% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly 26.6% free cash flow margin and 46.3% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for MSFT was 7.5%.
- Valuation: Microsoft stock trades at a P/E multiple of 36.7
| MSFT | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology | – |
| Industry | Systems Software | – |
| PE Ratio | 36.7 | 23.5 |
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| LTM* Revenue Growth | 15.6% | 6.1% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | 13.2% | 5.4% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | 7.5% | 0.2% |
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| LTM* Operating Margin | 46.3% | 18.8% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 44.6% | 18.2% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | 26.6% | 13.5% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
The table gives good overview of what you get from MSFT stock, but what about the risk?
MSFT Historical Risk
Microsoft isn’t immune to big drops either. It fell about 65% during the Dot-Com crash and nearly 58% in the Global Financial Crisis. More recent shocks show smaller losses, but still meaningful—around 37% in the inflation shock, 28% during Covid, and 18% in the 2018 correction. Even with solid fundamentals, steep pullbacks can happen when markets turn sour.
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.