Advancing the Investment World
Toward Total Yield

The Core Idea

Over the past four decades, companies have increasingly shifted capital returns away from dividends toward share buybacks. Dividend yields across the S&P 500 have dropped from roughly 4–5% in earlier eras to approximately 1.1% today. Yet total capital return — dividends plus buybacks — has remained broadly stable, averaging around 3.5% annually over the past 20 years.

Income strategies built exclusively on dividend yield have adapted to this shift by concentrating into a shrinking and increasingly expensive group of high-dividend payers. We believe there is a more effective approach.

When an investor participates pro rata in a share buyback — tendering their proportional share back to the company — the economic outcome mirrors a dividend. They retain the same ownership stake and receive cash. Buyback yield is equity income. Treating it as invisible in an income strategy means ignoring half the equation.

What We Do

BBY Investments develops and licenses rules-based equity model portfolios to registered investment advisors (RIAs) for use in separately managed accounts (SMAs). Our strategies screen the S&P 500 for companies with durable, consistent total shareholder yield — blending dividend yield and buyback yield into a single total yield framework.

We currently offer two strategies:

• BBY Consistent Buyback Yield — screens for companies with buyback yields above 1% in at least 4 of the last 5 years, constructing a portfolio of approximately 125 companies with a demonstrated record of sustained capital return.
• BBY High Total Yield — screens for companies with positive buyback yields in at least 2 of the last 3 years, then selects the top half by total yield, producing a portfolio of approximately 110 companies optimized for current income.

Both strategies have generated meaningful outperformance versus the S&P 500 and leading high-dividend benchmarks across the 20-year backtest period.

How We Work with RIAs

Our strategies are available under a model licensing agreement. On a quarterly basis, we deliver a rebalancing spreadsheet that RIAs implement directly within their SMA infrastructure — via platforms such as Orion or comparable tools. RIAs report AUM utilizing the strategy and are invoiced accordingly.

This is a non-discretionary arrangement: the RIA retains complete control over implementation and preserves the client relationship. We supply the research, the methodology, and the quarterly guidance.

The Long-Term Vision

We believe that total yield thinking — treating both dividend and buyback yield as legitimate components of equity income — should become the standard framework for income-oriented investing. As companies continue to shift capital return toward repurchases, strategies that ignore buyback yield will increasingly misrepresent how equity markets actually function.

Our mission is to bring this framework into mainstream investment practice, beginning with RIAs and expanding over time into broader investment products.