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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

The 52-Week Low Club (HELE)(ISRG)(VAR)

247wallst — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:04:50 +0000

Helen of Troy (HELE) Bad quarter. Sells off to $`12.01 from 52-week high of $24.70.

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Weak sales numbers. Drops to $99.75 from 52-week low of $357.98.

Varian (VAR) Healthcare equipment companies get hurt on spending drop expectations. Falls to $30.04 from 52-week high of $65.84.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: HELE, ISRG, VAR

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALTR, AMZN, BCE, BIIB, LEAP, PDLI, CLUB, VAR, AUY)

247wallst — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:36:22 +0000

It is still fairly thin in analyst upgrades and downgrades as this week marks the return of investment banking and research departments from what is nearly a two-week hiatus. Here are the few stand-out calls we have seen early this morning with more than two hours to the open:

Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
BCE (NYSE: BCE) Cut to Sector Perform at Scotia.
Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
PDL BioPharma (NASDAQ: PDLI) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan
Town Sports International (NASDAQ: CLUB) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Yamana (NYSE: AUY) Cut to Buy at TD.

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ALTR, AMZN, AUY, BCE, BIIB, CLUB, LEAP, PDLI, VAR

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADBE, AMB, BLKB, KO, EMCI, HSII, KFN, OMTR, PLD, VAR, VMW, VMC)

247wallst — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:36:21 +0000

These are some of the top downgrades we have seen this Monday morning with about 2 hours until the open:

Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
AMB Property (AMB) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Blackbaud (BLKB) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Coca-Cola (KO) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
EMC Insurance (EMCI) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Heidrick & Struggles (HSII) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
KKR Financial (KFN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Omniture (OMTR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
ProLogis (PLD) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Varian Medical (VAR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
VMware (VMW) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Vulcan Materials (VMC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
October 6, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ADBE, AMB, BLKB, EMCI, HSII, KFN, KO, OMTR, PLD, VAR, VMC, VMW

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AEP, CLNE, HTZ, IHG, QLGC, SPWR, SYMM, VAR)

247wallst — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:09:43 +0000

These are not all of the analyst downgrades or negative calls, but these are some of the calls we are seeing with a possible impact on shares early Monday morning:

American Electric Power (AEP) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) Cut to Buy from Strong buy at Broadpoint.
Hertz Global (HTZ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
QLogic (QLGC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
SunPower (SPWR) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Symmetricom (SYMM) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Varian Medical (VAR) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
August 11, 2008

Earlybird Analyst Calls (June 11, 2007)

247wallst — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:19:51 +0000

AGP raised to Hold at Jefferies.
ARAY started as Underperform at CIBC.
BE cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
BF/a raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
BOT cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CAVM started as Buy at Deutsche bank.
CPS raised to Outperform at JMP Securities.
HRB raised to Buy at UBS.
JNJ raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
KFS raised to Outperform at CIBC.
MKTX cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
NKE raised to Overweight at HSBC.
NFLX cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
RKT raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
UST raised to Buy at UBS.
VAR raised to Outperform at CIBC.
VRUS started as Buy at UBS.
WB raised to Outperform at FBR.
WDC raised to Buy at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
June 11, 2007