International Business Machines Corp. Has Bought Back Nearly 14 Million Shares So Far in 2017. Should Investors Be Happy?

As with most things, there's a right time and a wrong time for a company to repurchase stock. While it generally sounds good from a public-relations perspective no matter the timing, a company that's enjoying a sky-high stock price could probably find better things to do with its free cash than buying back stock at historically high valuations.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) shareholders, however, needn't worry that their company's ongoing share-repurchasing initiative is coming at ridiculously high prices, because its stock remains woefully inexpensive compared with its peers. The 14 million shares IBM has repurchased so far in 2017, let alone the 401.1 million since the end of 2008, haven't had the positive impact CEO Ginni Rometty and team had hoped for.

Image source: IBM.

Source: Fool.com