The Fundamentalytics Buyback Monitor asks one question of every company it covers: which firms are actually shrinking their share count, after the offsetting effect of stock pay? Buyback headlines are easy to generate; a falling diluted share count is harder, because stock-based compensation quietly reissues much of what the treasury desk retires. The 2026-Q4 edition ranks 58 companies on that harder test, with a further 46 excluded by data-quality and eligibility checks. The full table is on the Buyback Monitor index page.
How the table is built
The ranking's definition: companies are "ranked by trailing-twelve-month change in diluted shares outstanding (most reduced first), from SEC filings. Buyback spending and stock-based compensation are shown so debt-funded or SBC-offset buybacks are visible." Eligibility requires that a company "passes data-quality checks; revenue of at least $100M; reported buyback spending in the trailing year." All figures are trailing-twelve-month values to each company's most recent reported quarter.
One caution before the names: a rank here describes reported figures, nothing more. It is not a buy signal, and inclusion is not an endorsement.
Who leads
Dropbox tops the table, and not narrowly. Its diluted share count fell 18.25% over the trailing twelve months, the steepest reduction of any company ranked, on $1,501.9m of buybacks. That outlay came to 156.9% of free cash flow: the company is retiring shares faster than its cash generation covers, from a business producing a 37.81% free-cash-flow margin on revenue of $2,531.6m. The top line, meanwhile, is flat, down 0.05% year on year, and stock-based compensation still runs at 12.02% of revenue. Dropbox, in other words, is converting a static business into a rapidly concentrating one.
Pegasystems is second with a 13.06% reduction, also outspending its cash generation (buybacks at 125.0% of free cash flow) against revenue growth of 3.6%. CarGurus is third at 8.11%, with repurchases at 117.2% of free cash flow. It is the only member of the top three to pair its reduction with double-digit revenue growth, at 13.93%.
The top of the table
| Rank | Company | Share change (TTM) | Buybacks, % of FCF | SBC, % of revenue | Revenue growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dropbox (DBX) | -18.25% | 156.9% | 12.02% | -0.05% |
| 2 | Pegasystems (PEGA) | -13.06% | 125.0% | 9.16% | 3.6% |
| 3 | CarGurus (CARG) | -8.11% | 117.2% | 5.29% | 13.93% |
| 4 | Science Applications International (SAIC) | -7.81% | 77.4% | 0.91% | -0.78% |
| 5 | Pinterest (PINS) | -7.69% | 212.8% | 22.43% | 16.64% |
Science Applications International is the top five's outlier in restraint: stock-based compensation of 0.91% of revenue and buybacks held to 77.4% of free cash flow. It is the only name among the five to shrink its count while living within its cash generation. Pinterest is its mirror image: shares down 7.69% despite the heaviest stock-pay load in the top five, at 22.43% of revenue, financed by buybacks running at 212.8% of free cash flow while revenue grew 16.64%.
Two routes, and a cautionary tail
Paycom shows that a smaller share count need not cost much cash: its diluted shares fell 7.07% while buybacks absorbed 9.0% of free cash flow. Further down, Adobe's $9,295m of repurchases, the largest dollar outlay in the top 15, accompanied a 6.22% reduction, at 87.8% of free cash flow.
The other end of the table shows why the Monitor nets everything through the diluted count. GoDaddy spent $1,633.8m on buybacks, 95.9% of its free cash flow, yet its diluted share count rose 36.06% over the year. Dollar spend, on its own, tells you very little: shares can be created through issuance, conversions and pay faster than any programme retires them.
What it means for value
In our DCF framework, model value per share is the business's projected cash flows divided by the diluted count. A shrinking count concentrates whatever value the model produces across fewer shares, but the cash spent to shrink it leaves the company, so the two sides of the trade have to be read together. Where buyback spending exceeds free cash flow (156.9% at Dropbox, 125.0% at Pegasystems, 117.2% at CarGurus), the excess is drawn from reserves or borrowing, and that pace cannot be sustained from operations alone. Durability is the other test: a programme at 9.0% of free cash flow, like Paycom's, could run for years; one at 212.8%, like Pinterest's, is a choice that must eventually be revisited. These are model values under stated assumptions, not a comparison with the share price.
The other reading
The strongest alternative reading is that this table ranks maturity, not discipline. The heaviest reducers skew towards slow or no growth: Dropbox's revenue fell 0.05%, Science Applications International's fell 0.78%, and ON Semiconductor (No. 10, with a 5.17% share-count reduction) saw revenue decline 3.14%. For businesses with limited reinvestment opportunities, buybacks may simply be the default use of cash rather than evidence of conviction. On that reading, the top of the Buyback Monitor is where growth stories go to retire. CarGurus and Pinterest, growing at 13.93% and 16.64% while still shrinking their counts, are the counter-examples that keep the question open.
Bottom line
Share-count change is the cleanest single measure of whether capital-return rhetoric becomes shareholder arithmetic. The full 2026-Q4 table, with every company's buyback spend, stock-pay load and free-cash-flow cover, is on the Buyback Monitor page. It is a measurement of reported figures from SEC filings, not a buy list, and not an endorsement of anyone on it.
