Detractors point out that buybacks artificially increase earnings per share, since net income does not change. (In other words, though each slice of the earnings pie is bigger, the size of the earnings pie does not change.) Repurchase programs also do not place the same level of fiscal responsibility on executives that dividend payments do.

FORBES: Should Cisco Really Be Paying Dividends?

This means that while small-cap stocks have similar returns to their bigger brethren, they do not always move in the same direction or experience the same magnitude of change.

FORBES: Current Highly Correlated Stock Returns Are Temporary