Home Depot just stuck it to every worker (like the rest of the BIG companies do)

[stillwaiting]

9. What possible reason is there for buying back stock if not to push up the stock price?

Home Depot (and MANY other companies) has decided to spend quite a lot of money reducing the number of shares outstanding so that those shares that are remaining become more valuable (i.e. push the stock price up).

Pushing the stock price up is THE reason for stock buybacks. It's why so many investors clamor for them. I do realize that there are some investors who don't think this is a good thing to do, but it is literally the reason that companies justify allocating funds in this manner. Investors would be EXTREMELY upset with the company if they didn't believe they would be getting financially rewarded for such a large outlay of Home Depot's financial resources.

So, Home Depot has made a decision to allocate resources to their investors OVER their workers. The extent to which their workers own a few shares of stock is largely irrelevant in this decision. Home Depot's capital owners receive the vast majority of this fund allocation. This is not rare or unusual in America, but that doesn't necessarily mean these companies aren't screwing over their workers via unfair wages and benefits for their labor (when they clearly have loads of cash to spare). It is the status quo (for the most part) in this country.