Emulex Corp. is expanding a stock repurchase plan to help boost its shares as the data storage networking supplier battles a sales slowdown. The Costa Mesa, Calif.-based company said last Thursday that its board has allotted another $100 million for buying back Emulex's shares. The company had already committed to spending about $40 million to acquire its stock during the current quarter ending in September. Emulex made the commitment on the same day that it suffered a $50.4 million loss in the fourth quarter while its revenue eroded by 11 percent to $112.8 million. Management expects the company's revenue to fall below analyst estimates in the current quarter. Analyst Paul Mansky raised his rating on Emulex shares to "Buy" from "Sell," and increased his price target to $16 per share from $10. He also placed Emulex shares on his Top Picks Live list, a portfolio of recommended stocks. Mansky said Emulex should be able to clear its inventory of adapters in the next few months, and will work to increase its market share in bladed servers. The rally came in spite of a weak outlook for Emulex, as its profit and revenue forecast did not reach Wall Street's estimates.

McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants Inc. said Wednesday that its board has approved the repurchase of up to $20 million of its common stock. As of July 28, the company had 14.7 million shares outstanding, according to a regulatory filing. The restaurant chain also recently reported second-quarter results that beat Wall Street's expectations and reiterated its 2008 guidance. Avondale Partners analyst Amy Vinson in a note to investors called the results "not bad, considering the current economic environment." "In today's consumer environment, an inline quarter is a good thing," she said. "Management's longevity at the concept and the fact that they have weathered all forms of economics cycles gives us added comfort compared to some other concepts in the industry."

The board of directors of KBR Inc. has authorized the stock buyback of as much as 5 percent of the company’s outstanding shares. Houston-based KBR, an engineering and construction services provider, had about 170 million common shares outstanding as of July 28. The purchases will be made on the open market or in pre-negotiated transactions. The stock trades for 6x cash flow.

Tractor Supply Co. is boosting its share buyback program by $200 million, the farm and ranch equipment retailer said recently. The program, established in February 2007, now totals $400 million. So far, the company has repurchased 4 million shares for about $178 million, as of June 28. Buybacks reduce the supply of shares on the market, thereby increasing their value. The stock trades for 6.5x cash flow.

The largest producer of glass for LCD-TVs and computers announced a new $1 billion dollar buyback plan, representing about 3% of its outstanding stock. This plan comes on top of its previously authorized $500 million buyback plan, of which $125 million remain, bringing the total repurchase amount to $1.125 billion. The stocks will be repurchased from time to time depending on market conditions by the end of 2009. Wendell P. Weeks, chairman and CEO commented, "This decision is consistent with our strategy to use free cash flow first to protect our financial health and second to fund growth opportunities.” Last Wednesday, July 30th, the Corning, NY-based company reported impressive second-quarter earnings. Net income surged to $3.2 billion, or $2.01 a share, from $489 million, or 30 cents a share in the same period last year. Without the $2.43 billion tax related gain, profit came in at 49 cents a share, an increase of 63% and in line with expectations. Totals sales jumped 19% to 1.69 billion from $1.42 billion last year, coming up a little short of the $1.72 forecast. Despite economic pressures, U.S. sales of LCD-TVs were strong, up more than 30% this first half of the year and expected to grow in the range of 25%-30% in the remainder of the year. “We expect the total year to still come in where we thought it would," added Weeks. Corning estimates that 105 million LCD-TVs will be sold in 2008, forcing their glass business to grow at the upper end of their original guidance range. Corning expects third-quarter profit to be in the range of 48 to 51 cents a share, representing 26% to 34% growth year-over-year. Sales are expected to grow between 6% and 11% to $1.65 billion to $1.72 billion. However, Wall Street was looking for sales of $1.79 billion. After evaluating Corning’s second-quarter results, analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated their optimistic outlook with a buy rating. They believe the downside risk in GLW is already priced into the stock. The analysts explained, “Trading at 11x our below consensus EPS estimate (which assumes 15% glass volume growth in 2009 vs GLW’s guidance of 20-25%), we believe shares are attractively valued for longer-term investors who can ride out another 5 months of cautious anecdotes about demand and downward earnings revisions.”

The Dallas-based marketing and transaction services company announced a new $1.3 billion buyback plan. This program is in addition to the company’s previously announced $500 million repurchase plan, bringing the total authorized repurchase amount up to $1.8 billion. The repurchases will be completed before the end of 2009. Since the beginning of the year, Alliance Data has repurchased about 12 million shares worth $725 million, or roughly 15% of outstanding shares. Ed Heffernan, the company’s CFO said, "We believe we have a unique opportunity to use both the low existing leverage of the Company as well as its high free cash flow generation to potentially repurchase as much as 35-40 percent of our existing share base at attractive prices.” For the second-quarter ended June 30th, ADS reported a 6% gain in profit. Net income rose to $46.9 million, or 60 cents a share, from $44.1 million or 55 cents a share in the same period last year. Revenue jumped to $507.2 million from $481.8 million, an increase of 5%. Since the company out-performed estimates in the first six months of the year, they had to increase its expectations for the full year. Alliance Data now expects to earn $4.35 a share for the full year 2008, up from $4.30 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial are anticipating earnings of $4.31 a share. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey remains bullish on Alliance Data. Analysts at the firm reiterated their buy rating on the stock and inflated their price target $10 to $75. They recommend ADS because the company offers a competitive advantage in its analytics-based targeted marketing and loyalty solutions, which should provide above-average organic revenue growth. They were also positive on the enlarged buyback plan which could add $0.15-$0.20 to 2009 EPS and 2-3% to FCF/share.

The Santa Carla, CA-based maker of networking systems announced that its board approved the buyback of up to $1 billion in common stock. This plan comes in additions to the $3 billion-dollar program that was announced in the fourth quarter of 2007. Under this plan, about $37 million remain. The company added that the repurchases will be made from time to time and have no expiration date. Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems said, "With $3.3 billion in cash and marketable debt securities, we have maintained a strong balance sheet and feel confident that this program will allow us to further pursue strategic opportunities for growth." The buyback was announced with Sun’s disappointing fourth quarter earnings. During the quarter profit dropped 73% to $88 million, or 11 cents a share, down from $329 million, or 36 cents a share in the same period last year. Analysts were expecting 27 cents a share. Quarterly revenue came in at $3.78 billion, versus $3.84 bill in the year-ago period. After the company forecasted a “slight” sales decline in the first quarter and hinted that it wouldn’t make a profit, shares plunged 13%. JAVA noted that economic pressures and restructuring changes will continue to hurt their bottom-line.

The Irvine, Cali-based manufacturer of semiconductors announced a new $1 billion-dollar buyback plan. The repurchases will be made from time to time depending on market conditions until the program terminates on July 31, 2011. Under the company’s previous buyback, which began in 2005, they repurchased $2.43 billion in stock. The company has 507.3 million shares outstanding. On July 22nd Broadcom posted stellar second-quarter results with net income nearly quadrupling on heavy demand for its communication products. During the quarter, the company earned $134.8 million, or 25 cents a share, up from $34.3 million, or 6 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenue surged 34% to $1.2 billion from $897.9 million. "Despite continued economic turmoil, demand for Broadcom's wired and wireless communications products strengthened in the second quarter," said Scott A. McGregor, Broadcom's President and CEO. "Our quarterly product revenue, excluding royalties, surpassed the $1.0 billion milestone for the first time in our history,” he added. After listening to Broadcom’s second quarter conference call analysts at Kintisheff Research reiterated their buy rating and inflated their targets. They were pleased to see better-than-expected results in all of Broadcom’s segments; broadband networking (38% of Q2 sales), enterprise networking (27%), and Mobile & Wireless (35%). Two universal themes, cable upgrades and the recent iPhone 3G design win, make for favorable near-term position said the analysts. They raised their 6-12 month price target to $44 from $41, representing about 60% upside potential from current levels.