ABSTRACT We compare three forms of common stock repurchases. Dutch‐auction self‐tender offers and open‐market share repurchase programs are weaker signals of stock undervaluation than fixed‐price self‐tender offers. The price increase from buyback announcements is greater when insider wealth is at risk, greater following negative net‐of‐market stock returns, and unrelated to prior market returns. Buyback announcement returns are also increasing in the fraction of shares sought, which is consistent with both signalling and an upward‐sloping supply curve for stock.

We compare three forms of common stock repurchases. Dutch-auction self-tender offers and open-market share repurchase programs are weaker signals of stock undervaluation than fixed-price self-tender offers. The price increase from buyback announcements is greater when insider wealth is at risk, greater following negative net-of-market stock returns, and unrelated to prior market returns. Buyback announcement returns are also increasing in the fraction of shares sought, which is consistent with both signalling and an upward-sloping supply curve for stock.

The authors compare three forms of common stock repurchases. Dutch-auction self-tender offers and open-market share repurchase programs are weaker signals of stock undervaluation than fixed-price self-tender offers. The price increase from buyback announcements is greater when insider wealth is at risk, greater following negative net-of-market stock returns, and unrelated to prior market returns. Buyback announcement returns are also increasing in the fraction of shares sought, which is consistent with both signaling and an upward-sloping supply curve for stock.