These companies are buying back their shares without using too much debt
Despite the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop the market faces, some companies have been able to buy back their shares without relying heavily on debt to finance the purchases. Buybacks are used by companies to return value to shareholders and can boost a stock. In doing so, a company purchases its own stock from shareholders and can then retire said shares, hold them or sell them at a later date. Low interest rates since the financial crisis contributed to a boom in share buybacks, making it easy for companies to borrow money to execute these programs. However, rates have climbed over the past year, as the Federal Reserve tries to tame inflation. Still, some companies have been able to move forward with their buybacks without having to borrow money. CNBC picked companies buying back stock for this list that meet the following criteria: — The stock is listed in the S & P 500 . — Debt is less than half the company's total capital. — The companies are performing the largest buybacks as a percentage of market capitalization in the S & P 500. PayPal has the third-highest market cap on this list at $68.6 billion for the latest quarter , trailing only Fiserv , Salesforce and Meta . The payments company's repurchases amount to 1.9% of its overall market cap. On top of that, its debt totals only 36.8% of its total capital. PYPL YTD mountain Shares of PayPal are under pressure this year with a decline of more than 15%. Fox Corporation , meanwhile, has purchased nearly 8% worth of its market cap, which exceeds $15 billion. The media giant's debt is also low, making up just 40.8% of its capital. FOXA YTD mountain Fox Class A stock year to date Marathon Petroleum repurchases come up to 7.8% of the energy company's market cap, while just 45.9% of its capital is tied to debt. Marathon Petroleum shares have struggled this year, losing nearly 8%. MPC YTD mountain Marathon shares are down roughly 8% from the start of 2023. Meta Platforms also made the list. The tech giant has repurchased 3.3% worth of its market cap, which tops $600 billion. On top of that, its debt amounts to just 18.5% of capital. Meta shares have been on fire this year as the company focuses on efficiency, rallying more than 100%. META YTD mountain Meta stock in 2023