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Motley Fool Staff

Step on up, ManpowerGroup .

The first step in analyzing cash flow is to look at net income. ManpowerGroup's net income over the last five years has been all over the place:



Now we know how much cash ManpowerGroup is really pulling in each year. Next question: What is it doing with that cash?

Here's how much ManpowerGroup has returned to shareholders in recent years:


As you can see, the company has repurchased a decent amount of its own stock. That's caused shares outstanding to fall, if only slightly.


Now, companies tend to be fairly poor at repurchasing their own shares, buying feverishly when shares are expensive and backing away when they're cheap. Does ManpowerGroup fall into this trap? Let's take a look: 
Not great. ManpowerGroup repurchased a lot of stock in 2007 when shares were high but none in 2009 when they came crashing down. It then returned to buybacks after shares inched higher. Given reasonable valuations, the recent buybacks have likely been a decent deal for shareholders, but management's buyback record is hardly impressive. 
Shares returned -49% over the last five years, which increases to -44% with dividends reinvested -- a small boost to top off terrible performance.

Add ManpowerGroup to My Watchlist. 

What ManpowerGroup Does With Its Cash @themotleyfool #stocks $MAN