When a company comes up with good news the day before an earnings call, it must seem a bit lazy.

In other words, why not wait until the next day to update investors on the planned announcement (earnings) and the other unknown news? Unless, of course, the company anticipates a negative reaction to the earnings report.

This is the scenario investors are in Chevron Corporation CVX were faced with making it on Friday the PreMarket Prep stock of the day.

Buy, buy, buy: After Wednesday’s closing bell, Chevron increased its quarterly dividend to $1.51/share from $1.42. In addition, the company announced a robust $75 billion share buyback program.

As expected, this sparked a monster rally in issuance in Thursday’s session. The daily high came close to its all-time high ($189.68) to reach $187.81.

Chevron came much closer to making a new all-time closing high, only just lagging ($187.79 vs. $188.05). The rally took place with more than double Wednesday’s volume (14.3 million versus 6.72 million).

Related link: Has $1,000 in Chevron Stock Been a Blowout for Investors Since Joe Biden Was Elected?

Chevron’s mixed Q4 report: Ahead of Friday’s opening, the company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $4.09, which missed an estimate of $4.38, and compared with revenue of $56.47 billion an estimate of $54.63 billion.

Another positive of the report: Chevron improved operating cash flow in the fourth quarter to $12.5 billion in free cash flow from $8.7 billion.

PreMarket Prep’s Take: When the topic came up on Friday’s show, it was already over $2 in the $185 range in the red.

co-host Dennis Dick was amazed by the two day saga.

“Don’t you find it incredibly shocking that the company is increasing its dividend and announcing a huge buyback one day and missing out on earnings per share the next?”

The author of this article was skeptical that the issue could match Thursday’s performance. Investors have been warned that if Thursday’s low breaks…