Nvidia buyback puts index concentration on advisors’ radar
Measured against a trillion-dollar buyback market
Nvidia returned US$41.1 billion through dividends and buybacks in fiscal 2026, when operating cash flow exceeded US$102 billion, and it ended that year with US$58.5 billion left under its authorization.
S&P 500 companies spent a then-record US$1.020 trillion on buybacks in the 12 months to September 2025, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Its senior index analyst, Howard Silverblatt, said the 1% US excise tax on net buybacks had not reduced overall buyback activity.
Bloomberg described Apple’s US$110 billion authorization in May 2024 as the largest US buyback on record, based on Birinyi Associates data that goes back to 1999.
The cash behind the Nvidia buyback
“Our cash generation gives us the capacity to invest in the technologies that advance this transformation and return capital to shareholders,” CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement. He added that the authorization shows confidence in the long-term opportunity ahead.
On CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday, Huang said Nvidia would generate a lot of cash in the coming years and would like to return that cash to shareholders each year.
