The flip sideOk so what happens if a company loses money? Say a company has $1500 and 500 shares out. That's $3 per share. The next year they lose $1000 leaving $500. That's $1 per share.
Say a company has $1500 and 1000 shares out. That's $1.50 per share. The next year they lose $1000 leaving $500. That's 50 cents per share.
In the first case shareholders lose (3-1)/3 × 100 = 67% in share value.
In the second case shareholders lose (1.50-0.50)/1.50 x 100 = 67 % in share value.
So the downside loss, in percentage terms, is the same regardless of the number of shares out. Yet the percentage gain for a given amount of earnings increases as shares out decreases.
So why wouldn't bte trying to be buying back as many shares as possible as cheap as possible. Maybe they're doing just that and maybe that's why the sp is range bound. If that's true then the longer that the sp is range bound, then the more shares that bte will buy back and the better the percentage gain on sp going forward.