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The 25 Companies Spending Billions On Buybacks (ACE, AKAM, ABC, AOL, AVT, CBOE, CHTR, CSCO, COV, DISCA, DLB, XOM, CVX, HRS, HUN, JASO, JAH, NWSA, RDC, LUV, STJ, BSX, MSI, V, HPQ)

Administrator — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:56:25 +0000

It is no secret that the market volatility has many investors rattled. What is very counter-intuitive is that many companies are continuing with most or all of their investor friendly plans regardless of the market. That means keeping balance sheets strong, but it also means buying back stock and paying out dividends. In fact, some companies have signaled that they just do not believe the current mayhem will turn into a new 2008 or 2009 situation.

The fresh buybacks we have featured are only the big buybacks which are large in size or large in percentages of the market capitalization of the underlying companies. The best buyback announcements in August have come from the following: Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE); Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC); AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL); Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT); CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE); Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR); Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB); Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM); Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN); JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO); Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH); News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA); Rowan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RDC); Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV); and St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ).

We also saw some large and interesting buybacks in the last week of July from the likes of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX); Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI); Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V); and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ).

The companies are using their balance sheets to take advantage of distressed situations. Ultimately, this could even signal M&A opportunities arising. As a reminder, companies are not under any obligation to spend a single dollar to repurchase stocks. These buybacks actually look real, and many have a solid history of buying back shares. Who needs activist investors when you see these billions and billions being made available to purchase stock.

Here are the companies buying billions in their own stock.

Filed under: Accounting, Activist Investor, Business Services, Compensation, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Economy, Editor's Picks, Insider Activity, Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity, Shareholder Issues, Value Investing Tagged: ABC, ACE, AKAM, AOL, AVT, BSX, CBOE, CHTR, COV, CSCO, CVX, DISCA, DLB, HPQ, HRS, HUN, JAH, JASO, LUV, MSI, NWSA, RDC, STJ, V, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MDRX, AMR, ADI, BHP, BYD, CHH, KIOR, LEAP, MRO, MAR, PCS, OSG, PFCB, RDC, SKH, TXN, VLO, YNDX)

Administrator — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:12:42 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday morning.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
KiOR, Inc. (NASDAQ: KIOR) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Neutral at Baird; Maintained Neutral but cut target to $12 at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy with $22 target at Argus.
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (NYSE: OSG) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. (NASDAQ: PFCB) Cut to Sell at Argus.
Rowan Companies (NYSE: RDC) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) Started as Underperform at BofA/ML.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Buy with $35 target at Argus.
Yandex N. V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADI, AMR, BHP, BYD, CHH, KIOR, LEAP, MAR, MDRX, MRO, OSG, PCS, PFCB, RDC, SKH, TXN, VLO, YNDX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ATHN, ARUN, FAS, CVLT, DEO, NE, RDC, ZUMZ)

247wallst — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:40:14 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst calls from Wall Street we have seen early this Friday morning:

Athenahealth (ATHN) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Aruba Networks (ARUN) Raised to Buy at Jefferies; Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Chico’s FAS (FAS) Raised to Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
CommVault Systems (CVLT) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.
Diageo plc (DEO) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Noble Corp. (NE) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Rowan Cos. (RDC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

JON C. OGG
MAY 22, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ARUN, ATHN, CVLT, DEO, FAS, NE, RDC, ZUMZ

Early Bird Analyst Downgrades (DO, ESV, HBC, MORN, PPO, PWAV, RDC, TDW, TROW)

247wallst — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:00:00 +0000

These are some of the early analyst downgrades we are seeing from Wall Street this Friday morning with about two and a half hours until the open:

Diamond Offshore (DO) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Ensco (ESV) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
HSBC (HBC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Morningstar (MORN) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Polypore International (PPO) Cut to Hold at BB&T.
Powerwave (PWAV) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Rowan Companies (RDC) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Tidewater (TDW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
T. Rowe Price (TROW) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
October 31, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: DO, ESV, HBC, MORN, PPO, PWAV, RDC, TDW, TROW

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ELN, ESLT, LLNW, RDC, SLW, AIG, EAT, ENTR, HNT, INAP, NVS, OEH, PACR, TI )

247wallst — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:39:08 +0000

Upgrades and Positive Calls:

Elan (ELN) Raised to Equal-weight at Lehman.
Elbit Systems (ESLT) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Limelight Networks (LLNW) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Rowan Cos. (RDC) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Silver Wheaton (SLW) Raised to Outperform at Raymond James.

Downgrades or Cautious Calls:

American International Group (AIG) Started as Sell at Societe Generale.
Brinker (EAT) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Entropic Communications (ENTR) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Health Net (HNT) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Internap (INAP) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Novartis (NVS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Orient Express (OEH) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Pacer International (PACR) Cut To Underweight at JPMorgan.
Telecom Italia (TI) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
August 6, 2008

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AFL, AMGN, BBY, CHTT, CVH, HNT, KMB, PCLN, RDC)

247wallst — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:30:58 +0000

These are not all of the upgrades or positive calls we have seen, but these are some calls moving shares this Monday morning:

AFLAC (AFL) Raised to Outperform at Raymond James.
Amgen (AMGN) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Best Buy (BBY) Raised to Buy at Banc of America.
Chattem (CHTT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Coventry Health (CVH) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Health Ney (HNT) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Kimberly-Clark (KMB) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Pricleine.com (PCLN) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Rowan (RDC) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
July 28, 2007

UBS Hikes Oil (CVX, DO, HERO, NE, PDE, RDC, RIG)

247wallst — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:01:05 +0000

UBS has raised its raw oil price targets for 2008 to 2010 and has lifted its coverage in the oil sector. UBS also initiated coverage on some of the oil and drilling companies this morning. Here are a few of the stocks they initiated coverage on:

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) raised to Buy from Neutral.
Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO) started as Buy with a $160 target.
Hercules Offshore (NASDAQ: HERO) started as Neutral with a $35.00 price target.
Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE) started as Buy with $81.00 target.
Pride (NYSE: PDE) started as Neutral.
Rowan (NYSE: RDC) started as Buy with $53.00 target.
Transocean (NYSE: RIG) started as Buy with a $200 target.

As far as average oil price, UBS raised those as well:

$115.00 average per barrel for 2008.
$120.00 average per barrel for 2009.
$116.50 average per barrel for 2010.

Jon C. Ogg
May 15, 2008