It's often coincidental. The stock is flying high because the company is producing a lot of free cash-flow, and the company can't find a use for the cash so it

It's often coincidental. The stock is flying high because the company is producing a lot of free cash-flow, and the company can't find a use for the cash so it does a buy-back. When the stock is tanking your company is usually in rough shape and has no money for such reserves for a buy-back, the cash will be necessary to survive or restructure. In those situations, when things get really dicey, they'll do share consolidation. That's often to avoid getting de-listed when their stock price dips too low.