Hello, Thanks for signing up for MarketBeat Daily Ratings—we’re excited to have you on board. Every weekday, you’ll get a curated summary of new “Buy” and “Sell” ratings from Wall Street’s top-rated analysts, the latest stock news, and bonus investing content—all delivered straight to your inbox. You’re just two quick steps away from completing your sign-up: 1. Make sure our emails go to your inbox Gmail users:
Mobile: Tap the three dots (…) in the top right and select Move to Inbox or Move to Primary
Desktop: Click the folder icon at the top and select Move to Inbox or Primary Apple Mail users:
Tap our email address at the top (next to From: on mobile), then select Add to VIP Other providers:
Reply to this message and add newsletters@analystratings.net to your contacts 2. Confirm your subscription Click this link to confirm your subscription. This verifies your account and ensures you receive your newsletters without interruption instead of getting stuck in your spam filter. Confirm your subscription here. After you confirm, feel free to download our popular free report, "7 Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever" with this link. Thanks again for subscribing—we look forward to being part of your investing journey. 
Matthew Paulson
Founder and CEO, MarketBeat. P.S. If you didn’t mean to subscribe, no problem—you can unsubscribe here.
Additional Reading from MarketBeat Media 3 Major Buybacks Just Dropped—Here's the Signal Investors SeeAuthored by Leo Miller. Publication Date: 2/23/2026. 
Key Points - Walmart, Lyft, and Equitable each announced sizable repurchase authorizations, signaling continued focus on per-share value creation.
- Lyft’s buyback capacity is the most aggressive relative to market cap, while Walmart’s is the largest in absolute dollars.
- Equitable pairs buybacks with a dividend and a rebound narrative, with analysts still forecasting meaningful upside.
- Special Report: [Sponsorship-Ad-6-Format3]
Several major companies recently expanded their share repurchase authorizations, giving them fresh capacity to retire stock in 2026. In a market where buybacks have an outsized effect on per-share results, that firepower can provide a meaningful tailwind—especially when growth is uneven and investors are closely scrutinizing capital allocation. These announcements come from three very different corners of the market: a consumer staples heavyweight, a beaten-down ride-hailing company, and a financial services firm that oversees more than $1 trillion in assets. The scale varies widely—from sizable to outsized—with one authorization equal to nearly 18% of the company's market value. Walmart Announces Biggest Buyback Ever as Shares Climb First up is retail behemoth Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT). Walmart delivered an impressive performance in 2025, with a total return of approximately 24%. Even after a pullback following its latest earnings release, the stock remains roughly 10% higher in 2026, benefiting from an early-year rotation into consumer staples. Walmart continues to demonstrate solid financial momentum, particularly on the e-commerce front. E-commerce sales rose 24% year-over-year (YOY) last quarter and represented a record 23% of revenue. Advertising revenue climbed 37% and membership income rose 15%—meaningful drivers of margin improvement. To cap its strong year, Walmart authorized a $30 billion share buyback program, its largest to date. The new program is equal to approximately 3.1% of Walmart's roughly $980 billion market capitalization, giving the company substantial ability to reduce its outstanding share count and provide a tailwind to earnings-per-share growth. Notably, the firm's shares outstanding fell by about 0.8% in 2025. Walmart also announced a 5% increase to its quarterly dividend, reinforcing a two-pronged approach to returning capital to shareholders. The stock's indicated dividend yield now sits near 0.8%. LYFT Holds +15% Buyback Capacity as Shares Get Hit in 2026 Ride-hailing company LYFT (NASDAQ: LYFT) delivered a very strong 50% return in 2025. But the stock has slumped in 2026, down more than 25% after its latest earnings report triggered a decline of over 20% in two days. Revenue of $1.59 billion—a 3% YOY increase—missed expectations of $1.76 billion. Still, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) grew 37% to $154 million, comfortably surpassing estimates. The company's Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $120 million to $140 million, however, was viewed as weak. LYFT announced a $1 billion share repurchase plan. With a market capitalization of roughly $5.6 billion, this authorization equals about 17.8% of the company's value. LYFT dramatically increased its buybacks in 2025, spending around $500 million on repurchases—ten times what it spent in 2024. That activity allowed LYFT's outstanding share count to fall for the first time over a full year, declining roughly 3.7% in 2025 and supporting per-share metrics. The size of the new authorization suggests that share reductions could continue. EQH Expects to Rebound in 2026, Announces $1B Buyback Last is the financial services firm Equitable (NYSE: EQH). Equitable shares returned about 3% in 2025 and are down over 5% so far in 2026. The company offers insurance, annuities and retirement planning, and it manages and administers roughly $1.1 trillion in assets—a figure that rose 10% in 2025. The shares have struggled recently, with Equitable missing adjusted EPS estimates in five consecutive quarters and missing sales expectations three times during that stretch. After adjusted EPS rose only 1% in 2025, the company expects a stronger performance in 2026, with EPS growth coming in ahead of its long-term target of 12% to 15%. Affirming that outlook, Equitable announced a $1 billion share buyback program, equal to about 8% of its roughly $12.5 billion market capitalization. In 2025, Equitable took advantage of weakness in its share price and spent approximately $1.45 billion on buybacks, lowering its outstanding share count by around 9% for the year. The new authorization supports the company's ability to continue returning sizable amounts of capital. The stock also carries a solid indicated dividend yield near 2.4%. Analysts Express Confidence in EQH Going Forward Overall, WMT, LYFT and EQH appear positioned to continue reducing their share counts in 2026. Aligned with its rebound narrative, Equitable shows the most upside potential among these names: the MarketBeat consensus price target of just over $62 implies roughly 41% upside. The consensus price target for LYFT suggests a similar amount of upside, but targets were reduced substantially after its latest report. Investors should monitor how actively these companies execute their repurchase programs and at what prices—authorization is meaningful, but the impact on per-share results depends on actual buyback activity and timing.
| 
Post a Comment
Post a Comment