Fair Isaac (NYSE:FIC) approved a $250 million share buyback plan, compared to a market cap of $2 Billion.

Mirant Corp. (NYSE:MIR) had one of the more impressive buybacks and share retirement plans announced, although its shares fell 8% because of losses.  Mirant’s total return plan is some $4.6 Billion, which includes $1 Billion in open market purchases and a $ 1Billion accelerated buyback plan.  This has been under review for the Special Situation Investing Newsletter.

Avocent Corp. (NASDAQ:AVCT) added 3 million shares to its stock repurchase program; Avocent has repurchased 11.2 million shares of the 12 million shares previously approved. The buyback equates to $75 million more in buybacks if completed, compared to a $1.25 Billion market cap and it represents about 8 days of trading volume.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:HOT) raised its dividend and added $1 Billion to share buybacks, compared to a $10.5 Billion market cap.  This one has also been under review for the Special Situation Investing Newsletter.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) approved a new share repurchaseprogram for up to 2 million of Assured’s common shares, which is about$40 million of stock compared to $1.37 Billion in market cap and about2.5 days worth of trading volume.

H&E Equipment Services,Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) authorized a stock repurchase program for up to $100million in common stock through December 31, 2008; represents almost 6million shares and about 9-days of average volume; market cap is $675million.

CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG) announced ashare repurchase program of up to $500 million, which is roughly 25million shares and almost 6-times average daily volume; market cap of$4.6 Billion.

Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE:TER) authorized a new StockRepurchase Program and is permitted to spend an aggregate of $400million to repurchase shares of its common stock.  The company’s marketcap is $2.2 Billion, and this represents some 33 million shares oralmost 8-times average daily volume.

Despite a crummy market reception to its earnings report, Cisco Systems(NASDAQ:CSCO) repurchased some 96 million shares at an average of$31.28 during the quarter.

Family Dollar (NYSE:FDO) announced a $150 million share buyback plan.

RedwoodTrust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) authorized a repurchase of up to 5 millionshares of common stock, which replaces a previous Board authorizationunder which Redwood purchased 7,455,000 shares of its own stock fromSeptember 1997 to November 1999.

Laboratory Corp. of America(NYSE: LH) authorized a new stock buyback plan for up to $500,000,000of its Common Stock, and it has repurchased $131.0 million of stockduring the fourth quarter and has $198.2 million remainingauthorization under the existing share repurchase plan.

Vignette(NASDAQ:VIGN) has extended the share repurchase program it began inNovember, 2006. Vignette has already purchased $75 million of commonstock under its initial program, which equates to roughly 14 percent ofshares outstanding.  It has approved an extension of an additional $75million in stock buybacks.

Is this all of the share buybacks? Ofcourse not, but this is a list of some of the key buyback and sharerepurchase announcements from this week.  There was another huge listof major companies still buying back stock the week before as well, andyou can access the full list here.

Jon C. Ogg
November 9, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletterthat covers special pending and unannounced share buybacks,recapitalizations, restructurings, buyout candidates, activist investoractivity, turnarounds, and industry de-mergers.