Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, recently announced that its Board of Directors has amended the Company's previously announced program for the repurchase of its common stock and convertible debentures to increase by an additional $125.0 million the amount of debentures that may be purchased under the program. The stock trades for 18x cash flow.

Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc. said recently that it will increase an existing share repurchase program by $100 million. Foundation has about 45.5 million shares outstanding. To date, Foundation has repurchased about $72 million worth of stock, leaving an available authorization of approximately $128 million for additional repurchases. When companies repurchase shares they takes shares out of circulation, boosting the value of existing shares and fattening profits measured per-share. The stock trades for 5.5x cash flow.

Chinese human resources services company 51job Inc. said on Tuesday that its board and shareholders approved a $25 million share repurchase program. The company said it would pay for the repurchase of its American Depositary Shares with working capital. It said it has about $151.7 million in cash. The stock trades for 5.3x cash flow.

The Company also said that it has completed its previously authorized $25 million share repurchase program and the Board of Directors has approved a new $50 million program. Repurchases will be made based on liquidity, market conditions and alternative opportunities to invest in and grow the Company's core businesses. Company Chairman Michael T. Tokarz said of the expanded program, "Despite continuing, dramatic volatility in today's markets, we remain confident in our business prospects. Our core natural resources and energy business fundamentals remain very strong, as high quality metallurgical coal supply is limited worldwide and demand remains robust. This new $50 million share repurchase program will allow us to continue to make balanced investments in our stock as well as our existing growth initiatives." The stock trades for 9.3x cash flow.

The world's leading software maker said it plans to repurchase as much $40 billion in stock- the largest buyback plan ever. The buyback would reduce its outstanding shares by about 17% and add 21 cents to fiscal 2010 earnings. The company plans to complete the buybacks by September 30, 2013. On top of the buyback, the Redmond, WA-based company said it will raiseits dividend 18% to 13 cents a share each quarter. In the past 5 years, Microsoft has retuned more than $115 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. The company also added a $2 billion commercial paper program and saidthat it may sell $6 billion in debt. In response, Standard & Poor's awarded MSFT with its highest possible credit rating, the AAA rank. This marks the first time in 10 years that S&P has given the AAA rating to any company. “The company’s strong credit quality coupled with investors’ current appetite for high quality paper provides a unique opportunity for the company to establish its first-ever commercial paper program and enhance its capital structure,” said George Zinn, treasurer of Microsoft. On July 17, Microsoft announced fourth-quarter operating income and diluted earnings per share of $5.68 billion and 46 cents a share, representing growth of 42% and 48% respectively. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $15.84 billion and $60.42 billion for the year, both increased 18%. Deutsche Bank analysts commented, “We believe Microsoft's board authorization of $40 billion in share buybacks and 18% increase in dividends signals management's greater confidence in the long term potential of the company.” They have a buy rating and $34-dollar price target on the stock.

The Palo Alto, Calif.- based technology company approved the repurchase of an additional $8 billion in common stock. As of July 31, 2008, the company had about $3 billion remaining under the November 2007 $8 billion-dollar buyback plan. The company added that the buyback is meant to offset dilution caused by employee stock plans. HP, which has about 2.5 billion shares of common stock outstanding, repurchased approximately $1.6 billion worth of its shares in the third quarter. HP issued impressive third-quarter results with net income of $2 billion, or 80 cents a share, compared with net income of $1.8 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenue surged 10% to $28 billion, up from $25.4 billion in the year-ago period, and cash flow from operations was strong, with $3.4 billion in cash. "By accelerating our enterprise growth and executing well across the portfolio, HP delivered a strong third quarter performance," said Mark Hurd, HP chairman and CEO. "Our global position, broad product and services offerings and incremental cost saving opportunities make us confident that we'll continue to meaningfully expand earnings." On August 26, 2008, HP announced that it completed the $13.9 billion-dollar acquisition of Electronic Data Systems (EDS). This was the largest acquisition in the IT services sector and the second largest in the technology industry, the first being HP’s acquisition of Compaq in 2002. EDS is a leading technology services company with $38 billion in annual revenues and 210,000 employees operating in over 80 countries. In a bullish report on the buyback, Cowen and Company commented, “We reiterate our Outperform rating on HP, the co’s size, diversification and cost cutting will continue to drive earnings growth.”

The Beaverton, OR.-based company announced that their board approved a new four-year, $5 billion-dollar buyback plan. The program will begin once the company finishes its current $3 billion repurchase program. "We are pleased to extend Nike's track record of returning value to shareholders through sustained share repurchases," said Mark Parker, Nike President and CEO. "Over the past 10 years, Nike has returned $5.5 billion to shareholders through the repurchase of more than 157 million shares.” The world’s leading athletic footwear and apparel maker reported solid first-quarter earnings on September 24, 2008. Revenue increased 17% to $5.4 billion, compared with $4.7 billion in the same period last year. Net income fell 10% to $510.5 million, or $1.03 a share, from $569.7 million, or $1.12 a share last year. However, the report topped analysts’ expectations and the stock jumped 5%. The highlight for the quarter was the Asia Pacific region, where revenues surged 36% to $860.6 million compared to $633.7 million a year ago. Analyst Jeffrey S. Thomison from Hillard Lyons believes Nike’s results were impressive given the challenging macro environment. He commented, “Results have surpassed our expectations for several consecutive quarters, and we feel the company has favorable operating momentum and many growth opportunities remaining.” He recommends this stock for investors seeking some international exposure, seeing as nearly 60% of revenues come from over seas. He has a buy rating and an $82-dollar price target on NKE.

The San Francisco-based bank announced that it will add 25 million shares to its buyback plan to meet the requirements of its employees' benefit plans. Last November the company announced a 75 million share repurchase plan, and as of June 30, 2008, 24.4 million shares remained available for repurchase. Wells Fargo added, “The Company maintains a variety of retirement plans for its team members and typically is a net issuer of shares of common stock to these plans. From time to time it also purchases shares of common stock from these plans to accommodate team member preferences. Share repurchases are subtracted from the Company’s repurchase authority without offset for share issuances.” The company has about 3.3 billion shares outstanding. In other news, Wells Fargo said that it is lowering its prime rate from 5.00% to 4.5%, effective October 8, 2008. While the rest of the financial sector has been dismal since the beginning of the year, dropping 38%, Wells Fargo has remained fairly unscathed. Since January 8, 2008, WFC shares have gained 5.73%. The company is also proud to announce that it is the only bank in the U.S., and only one of two banks worldwide, to receive the highest credit rating from Moody’s, “Aaa,” and S&P’s. “AAA.” After word that Wells Fargo would buy Wachovia issued a bullish report on the news. The analysts said, “Wells Fargo gets a bank that we feel has emulated Wells Fargo and in one transaction adds a bank in the East with top market share with its bank that also has top market share in the West. The result is a cultural fit that is superior to that seen in other recent transactions.” Deutsche has a hold rating on Wells but it increased its price target 13.3% to $34 from $30.