USEG Expands Share Buyback; More of Mark Cuban on Buybacks

U.S. Energy Corp (Nasdaq: USEG) expands its share buyback. It had already bought back about $3.1 million worth of its shares under its previous $5 million authorization, and now USEG's board has expanded that authorization to $8 million.

Separately, on his blog last week, Mark Cuban reiterated his opposition to buybacks ("The AIG-Lehman-Merrill Link"),

3 Companies facing cash crunch oblivion. A bankruptcy, an desperation sale and pure desperation. What do all 3 companies have in common ? Share buybacks. Billions and Billions and Billions in share buybacks over the last 18 months.

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Can anyone say “financial engineering” ? think all 3 companies could have used that cash they spent trying to pump up their stock prices ? All that cash going to people who sold the stocks, huge losses going to those who held the stock. Thats why dividends are far better than share buybacks. At least in this case all shareholders could have gotten something back other than “the bag” remaining shareholders continue to hold.

In the cases of AIG, Merrill, and Lehman, I doubt the shareholders would have been much better off if they had received dividends in lieu of buybacks over the last 18 months, and I doubt the money used in the buybacks would have been enough to materially affect the outcomes there. It certainly didn't help though.

I wonder what Cuban would think of USEG's share buybacks. USEG has plenty of cash, so it's not facing a cash crunch; it doesn't have current earnings, so it's not engaging in 'financial engineering' to boost earnings per share; and it's buying back its shares at well below book value.