3 Stocks Sending a Strong Signal With Massive Buybacks

Three key stocks in leading positions across their industries just announced substantial buyback programs. One energy name now has repurchase capacity nearing 20% of its market capitalization, giving it significant flexibility to return capital to shareholders. That company, along with two others, is signaling strong confidence through these latest buyback announcements.

LNG Plans +$10 Billion in Buybacks Through 2030

Cheniere Energy (NYSE: LNG) is one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas. The company acts as a middleman, taking natural gas from producers, liquefying it, and then finding buyers. Liquefied natural gas is a key and growing part of the global natural gas market. Liquification enables transportation of the gas on ships or trucks, rather than by pipeline. Thus, buyers and sellers can connect even if they are on opposite sides of the world.

S&P Global notes that liquefied natural gas imports to Europe surged 30% year-over-year (YOY) in 2025, with the United States supplying over 77% of those imports. Over the past five years, Cheniere Energy shares have benefited from strong demand, rising more than 250%. The energy stock fell significantly in the second half of 2025 but has rebounded strongly in 2026, now near its all-time high.

Demonstrating conviction in its outlook, Cheniere bought back $2.7 billion worth of shares over the last 12 months (LTM), its most ever. The company will continue to buy back shares at a strong pace, recently boosting its buyback capacity to $10.2 billion. This is equal to approximately 20% of the firm's over $52 billion market capitalization. The firm called the move a “clear mark of confidence," and it gives Cheniere the ability to greatly reduce its outstanding share count through 2030.

FICO: Financials and Buybacks Are Up as Shares Fall

Fair Isaac (NYSE: FICO) is the United States' most dominant player when it comes to consumer credit scores. The company’s FICO Score is often used as the de facto metric for assessing risk when financial institutions provide many types of loans, from mortgages to credit cards. The market has hit FICO shares fairly hard over the past year or so. Overall, the stock is down around 30% from its 52-week high, reached in May 2025.

A large part of the stock’s downfall was due to changes made at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). FHFA Director Bill Pulte criticized the company’s price hikes for mortgage application credit scores, leading shares to drop significantly. The FHFA then removed the requirement for loans bought by Freddie Mac (OTCMKTS: FMCC) and Fannie Mae (OTCMKTS: FNMA) to use the FICO score, a shot at Fair Isaac's dominance.

Despite this, Fair Isaac has maintained solid growth and boosted its profitability. Revenue has risen by 13% or more YOY in each of the last four quarters. The company’s adjusted operating margin also rose by over 300 basis points in its fiscal year 2025.

With its shares down, Fair Isaac is demonstrating confidence, substantially boosting its use of buybacks. The firm spent over $1.5 billion on buybacks in the LTM, near its highest level over the past five years. The company is indicating that this will continue, recently announcing a $1.5 billion buyback authorization, equal to a significant 4.3% of its approximately $35 billion market capitalization. This gives the firm considerable ability to repurchase shares at a level it likely views as depressed.

Zillow’s Buyback Capacity Exceeds 10% With Shares Down Big

Next up is Zillow Group (NASDAQ: ZG), known for its leading platform that connects home buyers and renters with sellers and landlords. Zillow shares have been absolutely rocked in the past six months or so, falling over 45% from their 52-week high. A variety of factors have led to Zillow’s poor performance. This includes a weak housing market and an ongoing investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC alleges that Zillow and Redfin illegally stifled competition. This came as Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to re-host its rental listings, making much of the two companies' listings the same. While the FTC argues that this was anti-competitive, Redfin says it was necessary. Its lack of paid independent listings made operating its sales force uneconomical, and partnering with Zillow helped alleviate that issue.

Still, Zillow maintained solid revenue growth of 15% in 2025 and saw its operating margin improve significantly. Indicating strength, Zillow has greatly increased its buyback spending in 2026. It spent $626 million on repurchases through early March, only moderately less than the $670 million it spent in all of 2025.

Now, Zillow has reloaded its buyback chest, recently boosting its repurchase capacity to $1.3 billion. This is equal to over 11% of its near $11 billion market capitalization, allowing the firm to spend big on buybacks. The company noted in its February earnings call that it was taking advantage of the “recent market dislocation to buy back shares at what we believe is an attractive price”.

Zillow Stands Out for Its Upside Potential

Overall, these three names are giving investors something to cheer about with their latest buyback announcements. Among this group, Wall Street analysts are projecting the most potential in Zillow going forward. The MarketBeat consensus 12-month price target near $78 implies upside of 66%. However, price targets did move down substantially after the company’s latest earnings report.

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The article "3 Stocks Sending a Strong Signal With Massive Buybacks" first appeared on MarketBeat.