Yes, the issuing of shares does cause dilution, but they are...

Yes, the issuing of shares does cause dilution, but they are from conversion of options by management? - performance based from a glance? Happy to be corrected if there have been CRs going back more than 2 years.

On the buyback suggestion. They have their place, I don't think it makes good sense to buyback shares when the funds are required for growth. Buybacks are when a company has no other 'useful' way to allocate cash resources. From what I can see, DSE is a high growth company and needs funds to keep expanding. Would seem totally illogical to be putting funds anywhere but towards R&D, and that includes reducing the R&D expenditure.

If you are looking for buybacks to increase the SP, and perhaps a dividend type company, something like banks or Telstra would be a good option.

Granted the churn is an issue and the competition is a threat. DSE is a speculative stock, but has plenty of cash and is generating earnings (recent, so naturally the PE is high with future growth being factored into the SP). Back down at late 23 levels is not ideal though, and the consolidation now puts a new dynamic into play. An interesting one for sure. All imho.