Children's publishing and education company Scholastic Corp. recently said it will repurchase up to $20 million in stock. The program will be funded by available cash. The company recently completed a $20 million share repurchase program begun in December 2007. The company had about 36.6 million shares outstanding as of March 31, according to an April 9 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock trades for 5x cash flow.

Newport Corp., which makes lasers and instruments for science, technology and aerospace companies, said Friday its board has approved the repurchase of up to 4 million shares of common stock. The new program replaces a previously announced buyback that was completed in the first quarter. The stock trades for 11x cash flow.

Grocery store operator Supervalu Inc. said recently its board authorized the repurchase of up to $70 million in stock from time to time. The company plans to fund purchase primarily with the cash generated from the settlement of stock options. The authorization program replaces the existing $235 million share repurchase program authorized in April 2007. About 5 million shares were purchased through Feb. 23 under that plan, according to a company spokeswoman. The stock trades for 6x cash flow.

CPI International Inc. said Wednesday it plans to repurchase up to $12 million of its common stock. The Palo Alto-based company said the purchases will be funded from cash on hand. CPI is the parent company of Communications & Power Industries Inc., a provider of microwave, radio frequency, power and control products for defense, communications, medical, scientific and other applications. CPI currently has about 16.5 million shares of common stock outstanding. "We believe that a combined program of stock repurchases and debt repayment provides an excellent opportunity to enhance CPI's long-term value for our stockholders," said CEO Joe Caldarelli. The stock trades for 6x cash flow.

American Apparel, Inc. recently announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to an aggregate of $25 million of its outstanding common stock. “This share repurchase program reflects the confidence we have in our business and our commitment to preserving shareholder value. By authorizing this repurchase program, it is our intent to address some of the dilution from the warrant redemption completed in March of this year,” said American Apparel’s Director of Corporate Finance and Development, Adrian Kowalewski. The stock has a forward PE of 12.

Specialty retailer Zale Corp. said recently that its board approved increasing its share buyback plan by $50 million to a total authorization of $350 million for fiscal 2008. During the fiscal year to date, Zale has repurchased 13.8 million shares at an average price of $18.06 per share. The company said this amount represents a 28 percent reduction of its outstanding shares during the fiscal year. Zale said that with the plan increase it now has a total remaining authorization of $100 million. The stock trades for 8x cash flow.

The drug store chain said that it authorized the buyback of up to $2 billion in common stock during 2008 and 2009. The company added that the repurchases will be made on a time to time basis depending on market conditions. On May 1st the Woonsocket, R.I.-based company announced record first-quarter earnings with profit skyrocketing 83% to $748.5 million or 51 cents a share from $408.9 million or 43 cents a share. Total revenues jumped 61.7% to $21.3 billion from $13.2 billion. At the end of the quarter, the company operated 6,267 pharmacies, 56 specialty pharmacy stores, 26 mail order pharmacies. Tom Ryan, Chairman, President and CEO stated, "I'm very pleased with our results for the quarter. We delivered strong revenue and margin growth across our businesses that led to earnings at the high end of our expectations. I'm most excited about the substantial progress we have made on our new integrated pharmacy benefit management (PBM)/retail model, which is resonating strongly in the marketplace." CVS recently partnered with Google Health to launch a new product that will allow user to securely store, and manage their health records online. We also like to see that Deutsche Banks has a buy rating on the stock and a price target of $52. After the analyst meeting on May 22nd, Deutsche Bank analysts said, “Based on what we heard, we are incrementally more confident in CVS's prospects to see further share gains in both the retail and PBM market.”

The leading producer of tractors and combines added $5 billion to its common stock buyback program. This new repurchase comes on top of an existing 40 million-share repurchase plan which was authorized in May 2007 and currently has about 23 million shares remaining. As of April 30th the company had about 430 million shares outstanding. The Moline, Illinois based company also enlarged its quarterly dividend 3 cents, or 12%, to 28 cents a share. "These actions show our commitment to creating superior long-term value for investors," said Robert W. Lane, Chairman and CEO. "They reflect our continuing confidence in the company's future direction and its ability to generate the cash flow to fund future growth opportunities while also returning cash directly to shareholders." Deere reported second quarter earnings that reached record levels fueled by strong global growth. Net income jumped 28% to $763.5 million, or $1.74 a share, from $623.6 million, or $1.36 a share. Revenue propelled 18% to a record of $8.079 billion on international sales that grew 46%. Overall, Deere’s business is performing remarkable even though the U.S. economy is weakening. Analysts from Credit Suisse like DE and reiterate their outperform rating on the stock and also increased the price target from $98 to $102, which represents 25% upside potential from current levels. International sales of farm equipment will continue to push earnings higher said analysts.