Opera Limited has used just 9% of its $300m buyback. At $18, the rest could retire another 17% of shares

Opera Limited (NASDAQ: OPRA) has lost ground despite delivering another strong quarter, but the August 19 selloff changes the economics of one part of its capital-allocation strategy that received relatively little attention in the earnings reaction. Opera Limited had spent only $28.1 million of its two-year $300 million share repurchase authorization through June 30, leaving approximately $271.9 million still available.

At OPRA’s latest price of about $18.03, that unused authorization is equivalent to roughly 15.1 million shares if it were deployed entirely at the same price. Opera Limited had 88.92 million shares outstanding at June 30, meaning the remaining authorization is mathematically equivalent to almost 17% of that share base. This is an illustrative calculation rather than a forecast because the company is under no obligation to use the entire authorization and actual repurchases would occur at changing market prices.

That makes the buyback significantly more important than the $28.1 million spent so far suggests. The original BNT earnings story focused on Opera Limited’s 25% revenue growth, flat overall monthly active users, rising monetization and the market’s disappointment with the relatively modest full-year guidance increase. The follow-up question is whether the share-price decline gives management a more attractive opportunity to accelerate capital returns.

How much of Opera Limited’s $300m buyback has actually been used?

Opera Limited launched the current $300 million two-year authorization in February 2026. By June 30, it had repurchased approximately 1.78 million shares for $28.1 million at an average price of $15.79, meaning only about 9.4% of the authorization had been deployed. During Q2 alone, Opera Limited repurchased roughly 640,000 shares for $11.1 million at an average price of $17.44.

OPRA’s current price of about $18.03 is therefore only around 3.4% above the company’s Q2 average repurchase price, although it remains approximately 14% above the cumulative $15.79 average under the current programme. The August 19 decline of roughly 7.6% has consequently moved the stock much closer to levels at which management was already willing to purchase shares during the second quarter.

At $18.03, Opera Limited’s June share count implies an equity value of roughly $1.60 billion. The unused $271.9 million authorization is therefore equivalent to approximately 17% of that indicative equity value, giving the repurchase programme unusual scale relative to the company itself.

Can Opera Limited actually afford to spend another $272m?

The authorization is large relative to operating cash generation. Opera Limited produced $52.4 million of free cash flow from operations during the first six months of 2026, up 28% year over year. The remaining $271.9 million buyback authorization is therefore more than five times first-half free cash flow.

The balance sheet provides considerably more flexibility. Opera Limited ended June with $145.2 million of cash and cash equivalents, while its investor presentation valued its 9.5% investment in OPay at $300.9 million. Together, those two assets represented approximately $446.1 million of disclosed value at June 30.

The distinction between those assets matters. OPay is an investment, not cash available in Opera Limited’s bank account, so adding the two figures does not mean the company has $446 million immediately available for repurchases. Still, the remaining buyback represents about 61% of that combined cash-and-OPay figure, illustrating why the balance sheet gives Opera Limited considerably more capital flexibility than current free cash flow alone would suggest.

Opera Limited must also fund dividends and investment. The company paid a $0.40-per-share semiannual dividend in July at a cost of $35.6 million, while management continues investing in Opera Neon, Browser Connector, Opera GX, MiniPay and other artificial-intelligence and browser initiatives.

Why would a larger buyback not necessarily shrink Opera Limited’s public float?

Opera Limited’s repurchase structure contains an important detail. The company purchases publicly traded ADSs while also arranging proportional repurchases of ordinary shares from its majority shareholder. The objective is to prevent the public free float from shrinking as a percentage of total ownership simply because Opera Limited is buying stock.

That means a large acceleration of the programme could materially reduce total shares outstanding without necessarily concentrating the company even further in the hands of its controlling shareholder.

Opera Limited has already demonstrated that this is more than a theoretical capital-return strategy. Since 2020, the company says it has returned approximately $541 million to shareholders, including $256 million spent repurchasing 37.2 million shares, equivalent to 31% of the shares outstanding at the beginning of 2020. It has also distributed $71 million through a 2023 special dividend and approximately $213 million through its recurring dividend programme.

The remaining $271.9 million authorization alone is therefore equivalent to roughly half of everything Opera Limited says it returned to shareholders during the previous six years.

Does OPRA’s earnings-day drop make the buyback more important?

Opera Limited’s operating results do not suggest management needs a buyback to compensate for a deteriorating business. Q2 revenue increased 25% to $178.1 million, adjusted EBITDA rose 32% to $42.4 million and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 24%. First-half free cash flow also increased 28% to $52.4 million.

Instead, the question is valuation and capital efficiency. OPRA has fallen to about $18.03 after investors reacted negatively to a full-year revenue guidance midpoint that increased only modestly despite another quarterly beat.

At that price, Opera Limited could theoretically repurchase roughly 15 million shares with its remaining authorization, equivalent to nearly 17% of the June share base. Actually doing so would require substantially more cash than the business currently generates in six months, and management still needs capital for dividends and product investment.

But that is precisely why the unused authorization deserves attention after the stock’s decline. Opera Limited has spent less than one-tenth of a repurchase programme large enough to materially reshape its share count. If management believes the Q2 selloff understates the value of a business still growing revenue around 20%, the next few quarters could reveal whether the $300 million authorization was intended primarily as financial flexibility or as a genuinely aggressive equity-reduction programme.