The Issuance (Retirement) of Stock show if the company has either sold more or bought back shares of stock. If the company has sold more shares of stock, the number of outstanding shares get diluted and the earning per share is reduced. If the company has bought back shares of stock, the number of outstanding shares is reduced and the earnings per share increases.

A positive value for this line entry means the company had a cash inflow because of the sale of more stock. A negative value means the company had a cash outflow because they bought their own stock. A negative number for the Issuance (Retirement) of Stock is a very good thing. It increases shareholder value. Add up the numbers for the past several years and if the total is negative that means the company has bought back more shares than it has sold.

Equations

Add all the values for the previous years and see if you get a negative number:

Example 1

Company: American Express
Date: May 2014

Source: Google Finance

American Express bought back $8.4 Billion worth of their shares. The company has increased their shareholders' Earnings Per Share.

Example 2

Company: IBM
Date: May 2014

Source: Google Finance

IBM has bought back $47.4 Billion dollars worth of shares which is a phenomenally huge amount. They have increased shareholder value dramatically.

Example 3

Company: Ford Motors
Date: May 2014

Source: Google Finance

Ford has issued more shares over the last 4 years diluting their shareholders.