MGM Mirage recently announced its board approved the buyback of up to 20 million shares of its common stock. The casino operator also said it repurchased about 1.3 million shares for the quarter to date under a prior buyback approved in December, leaving approximately 1.4 million shares left for repurchase. BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey Logsdon maintained his "Outperform" rating and $66 price target on the stock. "MGM management clearly believes that the long-term value of its operations and assets are worth significantly more that the present value of its publicly traded equity, after calculating in the expected returns from its various development and capital projects that will come on in the next few years," Logsdon wrote in a note.

United Stationers Inc. recently announced that its board of directors approved and authorized the company to purchase an additional $100 million of its common stock. United Stationers Inc. is North America’s largest broad line wholesale distributor of business products, with net sales for 2007 of $4.6 billion. The stock trades for 6x cash flow.

Chemed Corp. recently announced it increased its stock buyback program by $100 million. The company, which runs Roto-Rooter and a hospice care business, said it would finance the stock buybacks through cash and borrowings under a credit line. The amount of the authorized buyback represents almost an eighth of the company's market value. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Michael Wiederhorn wrote in a client note he thinks the best way for the company to use its cash is to buy back stock at this price. Chemed's shares closed Monday down more than 50 percent in the past year. Wiederhorn rates Chemed's stock "Outperform" with a $45 price target.

Herbalife Ltd., which sells nutritional supplements and weight-loss products, recently announced its board approved a $150 million increase to the company's share repurchase program. The boost raises the total authorized value of the buyback program to $600 million. Herbalife has bought back shares since its initial $300 million authorization in April 2007. Since the buyback program started, Herbalife said it has repurchased 11 million shares for about $450 million. The stock trades for 7x cash flow.

Radio station owner Cumulus Media Inc. said last Thursday its board of directors approved a $75 million stock buyback program. The stock trades for 9x cash flow.

Cree, Inc., a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting retrofit solutions, and semiconductor solutions for backlighting, wireless and power applications, recently announced that the company is authorized to repurchase up to 5,000,000 shares. The company has repurchased 1,567,500 shares during the current quarter.

G&K Services, Inc., a market leader in branded identity apparel programs and facility services, announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an expansion of its existing share repurchase program. This authorization increases the share repurchase program previously approved by the company’s Board of Directors in May 2007 from $100 million to $175 million. “The expansion of our share repurchase program further demonstrates our confidence in our strategic plan, the strength of our business, and our opportunities to drive increasing long-term growth and profitability, said Richard Marcantonio, G&K’s chairman and chief executive officer.” “Solid operating performance, combined with a strong balance sheet and excellent free cash flow production, provides us the flexibility to launch an expanded share repurchase program. We remain committed to increasing shareholder returns by investing to deliver long-term revenue and earnings growth, while also returning value to our shareholders through share repurchases.” The stock trades for 7x cash flow.

Arch Capital Group Ltd. approved a plan to buy back up to $500 million of its stock, the company said last week. The Bermuda-based insurer's buyback program supplements an existing $1 billion buyback program, which was established in February and has $170 million remaining to be repurchased. The new program expires in February 2010.