Company Events & EarningsExtended setInvalidNew
Buyback Blackout Reopen
Updated dailyData needs: mediumlong shortlong onlyshort only
NBER
1995
NBER working paper
#87 buyback_blackout_reopen — buyback calendar boundaries; extends Ikenberry-Lakonishok-Vermaelen 1995.
Read the paper →
In plain terms
Buyback programs stop in the ~30-day pre-earnings blackout, removing a price floor. Short into blackout, long the resumption post-earnings.
How it works
Firms with active repurchase programs are restricted from buying during ~30-day pre-earnings 'blackout' windows (SEC Rule 10b-18). Demand floor drops → small dip pre-earnings. Reopen post-earnings: program resumes → renewed demand floor → small drift up. Asymmetric small-edge family; best traded as overlay or sizing modifier.
Live results
9 times picked on its own · 92 times inside a blend (87 beat the stock) · updated 2026-07-06This strategy is a frequent ingredient in blends that combine a few strategies on one stock. It has contributed to 92 such blended picks (87 of which beat simply holding the stock). Picking it on its own is only one of the ways it shows up.
How its picks scored vs. buy & hold
Each pick is graded on a recent year it was never tuned on, against simply owning the same stock
Where its edge concentrates
Share of picks in each company-size group that beat buy & hold
How often it trades
Active vs. patient. Bars on the left mean it waits for rare setups; bars on the right mean it trades often
Return vs. buy & hold
How much each pick beat or trailed simply owning the stock over the test year (extreme microcap moves trimmed)
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Data dependencies
- Earnings history
A data feed this strategy reads, refreshed on its normal schedule.
Expected edge
- Reported return
- ILV 1995 finding: ~12.1% avg 4-year buy-and-hold abnormal return after open-market repurchase announcements (~45% for value firms). The ~50-150 bps annualized blackout-seasonal figure is an internal design estimate for this derived calendar effect, not a number from the paper.
Small but consistent — ~50-150 bps annualized; primary value is correlation diversification.
Related families
Explore Buyback Blackout Reopen on alphactor.ai
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