Buyback Radar

“Pay close attention to the cannibals.”

Charlie Munger

He meant companies that buy back their own shares. We count every one of them, straight from SEC filings, since 1999.

See the leaderboard
AutoZone retired 88% of its shares.1999 to today, split adjusted, from SEC filings →
a quarter gone 2001half gone 2006three quarters gone 2012139M shares, 199916M200020052010201520202025
The stock$32199995× since 1999
1999, 138,935,636 sharestoday, 16,325,355
A share bought in 1999
8.5× more of AutoZone today, without buying another share. It was one of 138,935,636 shares then. It is one of 16,325,355 now.

The leaderboard

1 AutoZoneAZO 139M in '99, 16M now 88.2% 2 Dillard'sDDS 107M in '99, 16M now 85.4% 3 White MountainsWTM 11M in '07, 2.4M now 78.0% 4 NVRNVR 11M in '99, 2.7M now 75.7% 5 Globe LifeGL 303M in '99, 77M now 74.6% 6 AIGAIG 1.9B in '11, 523M now 72.4% 7 LoewsL 667M in '99, 204M now 69.4% 8 AllstateALL 813M in '99, 253M now 68.9% 9 H&R BlockHRB 391M in '99, 123M now 68.4% 10 AmeripriseAMP 256M in '09, 88M now 65.4% 11 Voya FinancialVOYA 262M in '13, 91M now 65.4% 12 CNO FinancialCNO 251M in '10, 93M now 63.2% 13 O'Reilly AutomotiveORLY 2.1B in '10, 809M now 61.8% 14 Bath & Body WorksBBWI 522M in '03, 202M now 61.4% 15 Marathon PetroleumMPC 712M in '09, 281M now 60.6% 16 Alpha Pro TechAPT 25M in '08, 10M now 59.4% 17 Western UnionWU 760M in '07, 312M now 59.0% 18 Abercrombie & FitchANF 103M in '99, 42M now 58.9% 19 MascoMAS 488M in '03, 202M now 58.7% 20 Arrow ElectronicsARW 123M in '07, 51M now 58.6% 21 PrimericaPRI 73M in '10, 31M now 57.7% 22 Best BuyBBY 492M in '05, 210M now 57.3% 23 Spectrum BrandsSPB 53M in '18, 23M now 57.0% 24 Star GroupSGU 76M in '06, 33M now 56.7% 25 Signet JewelersSIG 87M in '12, 38M now 56.0% 26 Valero EnergyVLO 622M in '06, 288M now 53.7% 27 CovistaCVSA 71M in '07, 34M now 52.3% 28 PulteGroupPHM 387M in '12, 187M now 51.5% 29 Group 1 AutomotiveGPI 24M in '13, 12M now 50.8% 30 Universal Health ServicesUHS 129M in '99, 64M now 50.7% 31 FlexsteelFLXS 7.9M in '19, 4.1M now 48.3% 32 Toll BrothersTOL 177M in '13, 92M now 48.0% 33 TapestryTPR 380M in '05, 199M now 47.5% 34 CrocsCROX 90M in '11, 48M now 46.6% 35 RCM TechnologiesRCMT 13M in '11, 7.1M now 46.0% 36 MGIC InvestmentMTG 371M in '17, 205M now 44.7% 37 MetLifeMET 1.1B in '13, 635M now 43.4% 38 Booking HoldingsBKNG 1.3B in '13, 751M now 42.4% 39 Federated HermesFHI 129M in '99, 75M now 41.8% 40 AshlandASH 77M in '14, 46M now 40.5% 41 The HartfordHIG 446M in '13, 271M now 39.3% 42 Carlisle CompaniesCSL 65M in '14, 40M now 38.9% 43 Radian GroupRDN 216M in '17, 132M now 38.8% 44 InnovivaINVA 117M in '14, 72M now 38.1% 45 JefferiesJEF 367M in '14, 230M now 37.4% 46 CopartCPRT 1.5B in '02, 926M now 37.3% 47 AptivAPTV 328M in '11, 208M now 36.7% 48 Columbia SportswearCOLM 80M in '04, 51M now 36.3% 49 CNX ResourcesCNX 230M in '14, 148M now 35.8% 50 CF IndustriesCF 233M in '17, 151M now 35.1% 51 Alpha MetallurgicalAMR 19M in '18, 13M now 33.6% 52 Academy SportsASO 91M in '21, 62M now 32.6% 53 CignaCI 380M in '18, 264M now 30.5% 54 D.R. HortonDHI 376M in '18, 280M now 25.7% 55 InModeINMD 84M in '23, 63M now 24.6% 56 Garrett MotionGTX 238M in '23, 187M now 21.4% 57 Rave Restaurant GroupRAVE 18M in '21, 14M now 21.1%

Buy back 80% of the shares, and every share that remains owns five times the business.

your return, if earnings and the PE multiple never change25×50×75×100×2×5×10×20×100×0%25%50%75%99%  shares bought back

Up to 50%, nothing shows. That is where most investors lose patience. After 50%, every share bought back counts double, then triple, then ten times.

Case study, from Cannibal Stocks

74 million shares. Then 15. Then a $30 dividend.

Dillard's revenue grew 6% in fifteen years. Profit tripled. The share count fell from 74 million to 15.6 million, so earnings per share rose 13.5 times and the stock went from about $28 to over $600. Not a pitch, an autopsy.

Read the autopsy
74Mshares, fiscal 2010
15.6Mshares, fiscal 2025
+6%revenue in fifteen years
13.5×earnings per share

This week on the Radar

No new share counts this week.next check Monday

Every Monday we reread the latest 10-Q and 10-K of every company on the list.

Insider buying

Conifer Management, L.L.C.GPI, 2026-09-30, $254,904
Conifer Management, L.L.C.GPI, 2026-09-30, $3,997,607
Conifer Management, L.L.C.GPI, 2026-09-30, $4,019,859
Conifer Management, L.L.C.GPI, 2026-09-30, $1,298,670
Sandro Marinkovic

Every number here has a story.

I’m Sandro. I think that some of the biggest multibaggers, companies that go 50x, 100x, sometimes even 1,000x, can look very different on the surface. But there are also simple frameworks that help spot them early.

Cannibals.

These are companies that aggressively buy back their own shares. Typically, they pay no dividends. Instead, they plow back close to 100% of their cash flow, and sometimes even more than 100%, into buybacks.

And something very unusual, almost magical, and genuinely nonlinear happens when you keep doing buybacks at that pace over a few decades. That is what Cannibal Stocks is about.

Cannibal Stocks, the newsletter

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Method, in one breath. We take every 10-K and 10-Q a company filed since 1999, read the share count, adjust for splits, and rank by the share of the company that no longer exists. Companies that print shares do not make the list. How we count, with every filing linked. Updated October 16, 2026.