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Over $40 Billion in Share Buyback Announcements in February (KSS, DOX, DDS, TJX, WLP, WAT, LEA, PLXS, ARG, CVC, KLAC, VAR, COP, MMM, CHKP, ISRG, ALL, CMI, GME, GD, ROST, MHS, ERTS, PFE, TUP)

Administrator — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:51:54 +0000

Many shareholders argue that share repurchase and stock buyback plans are generally a waste of shareholder capital aimed solely as a short-term share price targeting mechanism. Many would prefer to see dividends. Still, share buyback plans remain a top method of ‘returning capital to shareholders’ and the share buybacks in February have come at a feverish pace.

The feverish buyback pace we are showing does not even include the many buyback plans of under $200 million. The companies leading the buyback charge with new announcements so far in February are as follows: Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS); Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX); Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS); The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX); Wellpoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP); Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT); Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA); Plexus Corporation (NASDAQ: PLXS); Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG); Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC); KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC); Varian Medical System Inc. (NYSE: VAR); ConocoPhilips (NYSE: COP); 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM); Check Point Software Tecnologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP); Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG); Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL); Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI); Gamestop Corporation (NYSE: GME); General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD); Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST); Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS); Pfizer, inc. (NYSE: PFE); and Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP).

The tally here in just these plans comes to about $41 billion in new buyback announcements so far just in February, and that is after a whopping $34 billion identified in January. We did not break these out by date and these are most recent to farthest back in February.

Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) increased its share repurchase authorization under its existing share repurchase program by $2.6 billion to $3.5 billion. That added 2.6 billion compares to a market cap of $15.7 billion today.

Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) declared $1 billion over 2 years against a market cap of $5.5 billion.

Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) added some $250 million to its prior buyback plan and its market cap is $2.6 billion .

The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) allocated some $1.2 billion this year and that compares to a market cap of $19.5 billion.

Wellpoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) expanded its prior plan by $1.6 billion and that is against a market cap of close to $25 billion.

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ALL, ARG, CHKP, CMI, COP, CVC, DDS, DOX, ERTS, GD, GME, ISRG, KLAC, KSS, LEA, MHS, MMM, PFE, PLXS, ROST, TJX, TUP, VAR, WAT, WLP

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/30/2009) (C)(CSCO)(SAPE)(DOX)(CTSH)

247wallst — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:02:11 +0000

Updated throughout the day.

Updated 3.23 PM EST: Analyst Michael Mayo says Citigroup (NYSE:C) will take a $10 billion write down the quarter. Citi denies it (CNBC)

Updated 10.24 AM EST: Cisco (NSADAQ:CSCO) may drop its bid for Tandberg (Barron’s)

Venezuela may have gold reserves with a total value over $13 billion. (CNBC)

JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) may have had concerns about Galleon as early as 2001 (Financial Times)

Likely near-term tech acquisition targets include Sapient (NASDAQ:SAPE), Computer Sciences (NYSE:CSC), WNS (NYSE:WNS), Amdocs (NYSE:DOX), Cognizant Technology (NASDAQ:CTSH) and ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) (Reuters)

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) may spin-off AOL in December (TheStreet.com)

CIT (NYSE:CIT) is likely to file for bankruptcy in the next few days. (Reuters)

Cargill is the largest private company in the US followed closely by Koch Industries (Forbes)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Rumors Tagged: C, CIT, CSC, CSCO, CTSH, DOX, EXLS, JPM, SAPE, TWX, WNS

Top Analyst Upgrades (DOX, CVX, GS, ILMN, INTU, KBH, HOT, WU)

247wallst — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:43:40 +0000

These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street early this Thursday morning:

Amdocs (DOX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Chevron (CVX) Started as Buy at Societe Generale.
Goldman Sachs Group (GS) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Illumina (ILMN) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Intuit (INTU) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
KB Home (KBH) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Starwood Hotels (HOT) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Western Union (WU) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: CVX, DOX, GS, HOT, ILMN, INTU, KBH, WU

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ACN, ADBE, DOX, CREL, CTRP, IACI, ISIL, KLAC, SAPE, SSCC)

247wallst — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:03:49 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious calls we have seen this Thursday morning:

Accenture (ACN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Amdocs (DOX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Corel (CORL) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Ctrip.com (CTRP) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
IAC/Interactive (IACI) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Intersil (ISIL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Sapient (SAPE) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Smurfit-Stone (SSCC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
December 4, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, ADBE, CREL, CTRP, DOX, IACI, ISIL, KLAC, SAPE, SSCC

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AMZN, DOX, BRY, CNQ, CEO, CFX, DVN, EOG, GGP, MDR, NWS, PCP, SPWRA, SVR)

247wallst — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:58:16 +0000

These are some of the many analyst downgrades we have seen on Wall Street this Thursday morning:

Amazon.com (AMZN) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Amdocs (DOX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Berry Petroleum (BRY) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
CNOOC (CEO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Colfax (CFX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Devon Energy (DVN) Cut to Market Perform at FBR; Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
EOG Resources (EOG) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
General Growth Properties (GGP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
McDermott (MDR) Cut to Hold at Jefferies; Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
News Corp. (NWS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Precision Castparts (PCP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
SunPower (SPWRA) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Syniverse (SVR) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
November 6, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AMZN, BRY, CEO, CFX, CNQ, DOX, DVN, EOG, GGP, MDR, NWS, PCP, SPWRA, SVR

Goldman Sachs Changes on Conviction Buy List in Tech (DOX, ADP, SNCR, SVR)

247wallst — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:01:16 +0000

This morning Goldman Sachs has announced some changes to its CONVICTION BUY LIST:

Amdocs (NYSE: DOX) is being added to the Americas Conviction Buy list with a 49% return potential to its target after its earnings report. Recent order flows should give the company a healthy 2008 with accelerating revenue growth and limited macroeconomic headwinds.
Automatic Data Processing (NYSE: ADP) is being kept officially as a Buy rating at Goldman, but it is being pulled off of the Conviction Buy List as part of a "moving away from macro-sensitive trends." ADP is down 15.5% since being added, slightly worse than the S&P at -14.3%, and it has underperformed the S&P over a 6-month and 12-month period.

In the larger Amdocs call away from macro-sensitivity, Goldman Sachs said it is also noting Synchronoss Technologies (NASDAQ: SNCR) as one of its best buy ideas (has a Buy rating). Goldman is also becoming increasingly optimistic on Syniverse (NYSE: SVR) (although it has a neutral rating today).

Jon C. Ogg
January 23, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ACS, DOX, BBBY, ESRX, HD, LOW, NWA, RFMD, SHLD, UA, ADP, BE, CSC, PAYX, SAPE, HEW)

247wallst — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:36:58 +0000

These are not the only key analyst calls that may impact stocks this Monday, but these are the ones that 24/7 Wall St. is focusing on:

Affiliated Computer (ACS) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Amdocs (DOX) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Express Scripts (ESRX) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
Home Depot (HD) & Lowe’s (LOW) both raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Northwest Airlines (NWA) raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
RF Micro Device (RFMD)raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Sears Holdings (SHLD) downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Under Armour (UA) raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

UBS Downgrades IT and Outsourcing/Business Process sector:

Automatic Data (ADP), BearingPoint (BE), Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), Paychex (PAYX), and Sapient (SAPE) were all downgraded from BUY to NEUTRAL;
Hewitt Associates (HEW) downgraded from Neutral to Sell.

Jon C. Ogg
January 14, 2008