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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.

Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) replaced a buyback plan with a new $500 million buyback plan that compares to a market cap of $7.45 billion today.

Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) declared some $400 million over the next three years for share buybacks against a market cap of over $5.6 billion today.

Plexus Corporation (NASDAQ: PLXS) allocated $200 million this year for buybacks against a market cap of $1.26 billion

Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG) allocated $300 million for share buybacks after the Air Products deal and this compares to a market cap of $5.25 billion.

Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) added $500 million to its prior plan and that compares to $10.5 billion in market cap.

KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) added 10 million shares to its prior plan and that would be more than $475 million at today’s prices against a market cap of about $8 billion.

Varian Medical System Inc. (NYSE: VAR) added 12 million shares to a prior plan.  That would come to about $800 million if all exercised today against a market cap of $8.2 billion today.

ConocoPhilips (NYSE: COP) added some $10 billion to its prior $5 billion plan and the market cap here is about $114 billion now.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) replaced a prior buyback plan with some $7 billion for buybacks.  Its market cap is about $64.5 billion.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) expanded its plan by half to about $300 million and its market cap is now north of $10 billion.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) replaced a prior buyback plan with a new $400 million plan against a market cap of $12.7 billion.

Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) allocated $1 billion for more than the next year against a market cap of roughly $16.7 billion.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) added $1 billion to a prior plan against a market cap of $20.25 billion.

GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME) allocated some $500 million through the end of next year against a market cap of $2.98 billion.

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) allocated up to 10 million shares for buybacks.  This comes to more than $750 million today against a market cap of $over $28 billion.

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) allocated up to $900 million over two years against a market cap today of $8.25 billion.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS) added up to $3 billion to its prior plan ad its market cap is close to $26 billion.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) allocated up to $600 million through the end of next year and its market cap is just over $6.3 billion today.

Pfizer, inc. (NYSE: PFE) added up to $5 billion to its buyback plan and its market cap is some $150 billion.

Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) expanded its prior plan with up to $600 million for share buybacks against a market cap of about $3.3 billion.

After what we identified as over $34 billion just in January, we thought that the cycle might have peaked around then.  What is even more amazing is that many of these stocks are at or close to 2-year highs.

As you would expect, most buybacks are an “up to” rather than a minimum.  Not all buyback plans get utilized, but when larger companies announce buybacks they generally do commit at least a larger percentage of that “up to” figure than when smaller companies make such announcements.

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JON C. OGG