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Companies have been buying back shares of their own stock at a record rate: depending where investors sit, some see signs of a continuing bull market or harbingers that the rally is running on fumes.

Some worry that waves of buybacks have artificially boosted per-share corporate earnings figures by reducing the number of shares on the market. Jim Chanos, manager of short-selling hedge fund Kynikos Associates, told The Wall Street Journal last year he was building an investment thesis around betting against companies buying back lots of shares.