Share Dilution & Buyback Calculator
Company context
Quad/Graphics, Inc. (QUAD). Source-backed fields below are editable starting points, not forecasts.
Starting-input evidence
These records explain the ticker-loaded values that initialize starting shares, annual diluted EPS, and reference price. The shares input uses a unit conversion: reported shares outstanding ÷ 1,000,000. If you edit an initialized field, your entry becomes the scenario input; retained evidence stays tied to the original ticker-loaded value.
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The reference price may be a source-scoped IEX completed-session close rather than a consolidated U.S. market close. It initializes the editable repurchase-price field only as a current-price reference; it is not a historical or future average buyback price.
Share-count assumptions
Share-count and per-share result
Enter positive starting shares, a positive starting per-share metric, a positive repurchase price, and a one- to thirty-year horizon. Growth rates must stay above -100%. The model fails closed if entered buyback assumptions would retire all modeled shares.
How the model works
Buyback dollars do not tell you how many shares disappear. The modeled share reduction depends on the average price paid, while gross issuance can continue at the same time. That is why the calculator keeps issuance and repurchases separate before calculating the net share-count path.
Shares repurchased = annual buyback dollars ÷ average repurchase price
Ending shares = beginning shares + issued shares - repurchased shares
Per-share metric = company-level earnings or FCF ÷ ending shares
Share-count effect = modeled per-share metric ÷ unchanged-share-count metric - 1
A company can spend heavily on repurchases and still dilute shareholders if gross issuance exceeds the shares retired. Conversely, repurchases above gross issuance create a mechanical per-share tailwind even if company-level earnings or free cash flow follow the exact same operating path.
Where this calculator stops
This is not a GAAP diluted-EPS calculator. It does not apply weighted-average share timing, the treasury-stock method, if-converted accounting, option exercise assumptions, convertible dilution, contingently issuable shares, or anti-dilution rules. Treat the starting share count and gross issuance rate as your own scenario inputs.
The model also does not subtract buyback spending from cash, add debt financing, estimate interest income forgone, apply repurchase excise taxes, enforce authorization limits, or decide whether repurchasing stock at the entered price creates value. The entered company-level earnings or free-cash-flow path is independent of the buyback budget.
Reporting context
- SEC: Share Repurchase Disclosure Modernization, including current regulatory context and the history of issuer-repurchase disclosure requirements.
- SEC-filed equity note example showing repurchases and share issuances reported separately, including issuance tied to equity compensation.
- SEC-filed repurchase disclosure example describing a repurchase program intended in part to offset dilution from equity compensation.