Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has hired three researchers from OpenAI to bolster his company’s work on artificial intelligence. This strategic move aims to guide Meta Platforms through its current AI challenges. The social-media corporation brought aboard Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, all of whom previously held positions at OpenAI’s branch in Zurich, as per sources privy to this information. These individuals established OpenAI’s location in Zurich towards the end of last year. Prior to their time at OpenAI, they collaborated closely within Google DeepMind, which is the organization’s artificial intelligence division. A representative from OpenAI verified that the three scientists have departed from the organization. Zuckerberg has been on an intense recruiting drive To correct the company’s AI initiatives following the underwhelming reception of its most recent model, he has sometimes proposed giving researchers up to $100 million to become part o...
Investors and financial advisors typically categorize stocks into two groups: value and growth. Value stocks usually belong to well-established firms with share prices that have lower price-to-earnings or price-to-book-value ratios. On the other hand, growth stocks generally come from businesses experiencing rapid expansion and thus are valued higher due to their potential for significant future returns.
However, there are various methods for choosing value stocks. It appears that two of Invesco’s exchange-traded funds, which concentrate on businesses rapidly decreasing their share count through buybacks, have surpassed conventional value-stock indices.
A traditional method for assessing value
If you wish for part of your investment portfolio to focus on value stocks, you can simply invest in a fund that mirrors the S&P 500 Value Index, which represents a segment of the entire S&P 500.
S&P Dow Jones Indices splits the S&P 500 into two categories: the S&P 500 Value Index and the S&P 500 Growth Index. This division is achieved through evaluating companies using several criteria. For valuation, they consider measures like book value along with sales and earnings-to-price ratios. In terms of growth assessment, indicators such as the past three years' compound annual growth rate for both earnings and revenues, alongside a year’s stock performance measured from price changes over twelve months, are utilized.
The S&P 500 Value Index is tracked by the iShares S&P 500 Value ETF which holds 399 stocks. The fund is rated four stars (the second-highest rating) within Morningstar’s “U.S. Fund Large Value” category.
The buyback approach to value
The Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF was established in December 2006. It tracks the Nasdaq U.S. BuyBack Achievers Index. The index is made up of 200 companies that had reduced their diluted share counts by at least 5% from a year earlier the last time the index was reconstituted. This happens every January and the index and fund are also rebalanced quarterly in April, July and October. The index and fund are weighted by market capitalization subject to a limit of 5% for any stock when they are reconstituted or rebalanced.
The concept of buying back stocks revolves around decreasing the total number of a company's outstanding shares. By doing this, they aim to decrease the share count which consequently boosts the earnings per share. Over time, these actions could contribute to an increase in share price. Often times, buybacks may merely counteract the dilutive effect resulting from corporations issuing fresh shares primarily for executive remuneration packages. For this reason, the Nasdaq U.S. BuyBack Achievers Index zeroes in on actual reductions in share counts through what is known as net buybacks.
Related: 20 companies in the S&P 500 whose investors have gained the greatest rewards from stock buybacks
The average market capitalization for companies in the Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF is $70 billion. The fund is rated five stars within Morningstar’s “U.S. Fund Mid-cap Value” category.
Below is a 10-year graph illustrating the performance of the Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF compared to the iShares S&P 500 Value ETF:
The returns mentioned in this article encompass reinvested dividends and exclude expenses. For the Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF, these annual expenses amount to 0.61% of the managed assets. Meanwhile, the expense ratio for the iShares S&P 500 Value ETF stands at 0.18%.
And here are year-to-date returns through Monday and average returns for longer periods:
| Exchange-traded fund | Ticker | 2025 return | 3 year avg. return | 5-year avg. return | 10-year avg. return | 15-year avg. return |
| Invesco Buyback Achievers ETF | 5.3% | 17.3% | 17.0% | 10.6% | 13.7% | |
| iShares S&P 500 Value Exchange-Traded Fund | 1.2% | 14.2% | 14.1% | 9.7% | 11.5% | |
| Source: FactSet |
PKW has outperformed IVE consistently.
Nick Kalivas, who leads factor and core strategies for Invesco’s exchange-traded funds, explained that PKW’s emphasis on recent share repurchase activities represents "a derivative value approach" since the stocks were not chosen using conventional pricing metrics.
“It is a value strategy that uses the signal of management action to indicate that a stock is inexpensive,” he said.
In other words, these companies’ boards of directors believe that the money they are using to repurchase shares is better spent than it would be on expansion or acquisitions.
Each year, in his communications with Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s shareholders, CEO Warren Buffett consistently highlights the significance of wise share repurchases. All of Buffett’s yearly letters to shareholders are available for review. here .
In the 1999 letter, Buffett wrote: “There is only one combination of facts that makes it advisable for a company to repurchase its shares: First, the company has available funds — cash plus sensible borrowing capacity — beyond the near-term needs of the business and, second, finds its stock selling in the market below its intrinsic value, conservatively-calculated.”
Here’s a list of the top 10 biggest holdings within the Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF based on their market cap as of early 2024. This compilation tracks changes in their respective share totals throughout this year. The figures provided could differ from those utilized back in January during the last update of the Nasdaq U.S. BuyBack Achievers Index due to differences in each company's fiscal reporting schedules.
| Company | Ticker | Market cap ($bil) | Change in share count for one year through Dec. 31 | 2025 total return |
| Wells Fargo & Co. | $251 | -6.8% | 11% | |
| RTX Corp. | $195 | -6.4% | 27% | |
| Booking Holdings Inc. | $174 | -6.8% | 8% | |
| Caterpillar Inc. | $172 | -4.7% | 2% | |
| Comcast Corp. Class A | $129 | -5.8% | -6% | |
| HCA Healthcare Inc. | $91 | -5.3% | 27% | |
| Marriott International Inc. | $72 | -5.8% | -5% | |
| PayPal Holdings Inc. | $70 | -6.1% | -16% | |
| BNY Mellon Corporation | $64 | -5.0% | 18% | |
| Vistra Corp. | $63 | -6.0% | 36% | |
| Source: FactSet |
Tap on the ticker symbols to learn more about each ETF, index, or firm.
Read: Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the information available on the quote page
An international buyback focus
The Invesco International Buyback Achievers ETF was launched in April 2014. Similar to PKW, it aims to mirror the performance of the Nasdaq International BuyBack Achievers Index.
IPKW’s performance can be compared with that of the iShares MSCI International Value Factor ETF which tracks the performance of the MSCI World ex USA Enhanced Value Index. Here is a 10-year total-return comparison through Monday:
Kalivas noted that IPKW has approximately a 7.5% concentration in firms headquartered in China. "Individuals concerned about governmental policies affecting profits may reduce their exposure by decreasing the number of shares they hold," he explained.