Oracle Stock Capital Return Hits $158 Bil
In the last decade, Oracle (ORCL) stock has returned an impressive $158 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, ORCL stock has returned the 9th highest amount to shareholders in history.
| ORCL | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $35 Bil | $4.6 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $123 Bil | $5.6 Bil |
| Total Returned | $158 Bil | $9.4 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 35.6% | 25.6% |
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 | $874 Bil | 23.6% | $143 Bil | $731 Bil |
| MSFT | $376 Bil | 13.2% | $172 Bil | $204 Bil |
| GOOGL | $364 Bil | 10.0% | $17 Bil | $346 Bil |
| XOM | $224 Bil | 32.8% | $148 Bil | $76 Bil |
| WFC | $214 Bil | 87.9% | $58 Bil | $156 Bil |
| JPM | $188 Bil | 23.7% | $0.0 | $188 Bil |
| META | $184 Bil | 12.1% | $10 Bil | $174 Bil |
| JNJ | $160 Bil | 28.3% | $106 Bil | $54 Bil |
| ORCL | $158 Bil | 35.8% | $35 Bil | $123 Bil |
| CVX | $157 Bil | 39.4% | $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 ORCL. (see Buy or Sell Oracle Stock for more details)
Oracle Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: 14.9% LTM and 10.2% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly -38.6% free cash flow margin and 32.3% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for ORCL was 6.4%.
- Valuation: Oracle stock trades at a P/E multiple of 27.4
| ORCL | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology | – |
| Industry | Application Software | – |
| PE Ratio | 27.4 | 23.7 |
|
|
||
| LTM* Revenue Growth | 14.9% | 6.6% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | 10.2% | 5.5% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | 6.4% | 0.4% |
|
|
||
| LTM* Operating Margin | 32.3% | 18.7% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 31.2% | 18.2% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | -38.6% | 14.3% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
The table gives good overview of what you get from ORCL stock, but what about the risk?
ORCL Historical Risk
Oracle’s no stranger to deep drops. It fell about 77% in the Dot-Com crash and over 40% during both the Global Financial Crisis and the Inflation Shock. The 2018 correction and Covid sell-off weren’t shy either, pulling the stock down nearly 19% and 29%, respectively. Even with solid fundamentals, Oracle can take a big hit when things get rough. It’s a reminder that no stock is completely safe when markets really unwind.
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.