Two responses to that:1. Dividends are usually preferred in...

Two responses to that:

1. Dividends are usually preferred in Australia because of franking. CTP's accumulated losses are so much they won't be paying franked dividends any time soon. Possibly ever. So dividends lose a lot of their appeal.

2. Buybacks might not do well for large caps but it's different for thinly traded small caps. Take a look at SVR, they have intermittently operated a daily buyback the last 2 years or so. When the buyback is in operation has correlated to strong SP growth and when it's suspended has correlated to SP decline. Because the volumes are thin, even buying $30-50k daily on market (which is what SVR typically does) puts sustained upward pressure on the SP.

Add these to the fact CTP is arguably trading significantly under fair value and CTP is the textbook example for a buyback over divs IMO. You're paying say 6c, but cancelling a share worth significantly more than that. That's good value, regardless of whether the market responds in the short term.