The debate of which is better Dividends or Share Buybacks is as alive as ever but I think we can skip the whole discussion by focusing on Total Shareholder Yield.
This number gives us insight into 3 parts of a stock. First the dividend yield, second the total buyback yield, and third net debt reduction.
The formula looks a little like this:
For instance
$T has a dividend yield of 6.44% but because of additional buybacks the payout yield is 8.5%. But because the company has continued to pile on debt with a debt paydown yield of -12.4% the total shareholder yield is -3.9%.
By combining Dividends and Buybacks with Debt Paydowns we get a much better insight into how the business it treating its shareholders.