The first reason we looked at CHK was because we saw Aubrey McClendon , the CEO of the company, has recently purchased 100,000 shares or $3,420,888 worth of stock. The first thing you may see in looking at CHK is that the major domestic natural gas producer recently said its first-quarter net earnings plummeted more than 60% from last year. Chesapeake attributed the decline in profits to shrinking exploration and production margins and a $193 million charge from a mark-to-market hedging program. Excluding the charge, Chesapeake earned $425 million, or 87 cents a share, in the quarter. On that basis, analysts at Thomson Financial were expecting 78 cents. So the company’s adjusted profits still exceeded analysts' expectations. UBS also reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $46 from $43 and 2007 EPS estimates to $7.40 from $7.20.

The software recently announced it has expanded its stock buyback program by an additional $500 million. This takes its total buyback program to over $620 million which could amount to over 10% of outstanding shares. The company also simultaneously announced that its Q1 sales climbed 7 percent despite what many have said is a very challenging business environment. The company is not providing full financial results for Q1 because it is currently reviewing its accounting treatment of historical stock option grants. The company has already announced that once the review is finished there will be a material adverse effect on results due to accounting treatment changes with respect to treating stock options. However, the street seems to have liked what they saw in Q1 including the new buyback program. CEO Alfred Chuang offered, “In the first quarter, we saw a tough selling environment in the Americas, and we made several changes to the Americas field organization. Geographies outside the U.S. performed well…I am very optimistic about BEA's future."

A Director of the company has recently purchased 76,300 shares or $4,666,485 worth of stock. General Growth Properties Inc. said Monday it formed a 50-50 joint venture with Boyd Gaming Corp. to develop a retail promenade at Boyd's 87-acre Echelon resort development on the Las Vegas Strip. The company trades for a 16x forward PE.

Intuit announced an $800 million dollar buyback over 3 years. The personal finance software maker reported in mid May it cracked $1 billion in quarterly sales for the first time. The stock trades at 19x forward PE

Sun Microsystems announced a $3 billion dollar buyback. “With over $5.4 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," said Michael Lehman, chief financial officer, in a statement. The stock trades for 14x cash flow.

Another one of Buffett's portfolio companies, Ingersoll-Rand, recently announced a $2 billion dollar buyback. The company announced this around the same time they also disclosed that it may sell or spin off Bobcat Co. and its construction-related businesses. Investors and analysts cheered the news and one analyst, Robert McCarthy from Robert W. Baird, reiterated an "Outperform" rating and $56 price target on the stock, but said the price could rise to $65 per share if the company is broken up.

Now let’s revisit a company we looked at just a few weeks ago. SunTrust Banks is again on our radar because the company just announced a $1 billion dollar buyback. This is on the heels of Hyatt Brown, a director of the company, recently purchasing 12,000 shares, or $1 million worth of stock. So an insider buying and a billion dollar stock buyback program definitely piques our interest.

A Director of the company has recently purchased 111,400 shares or $1,808,573 worth of stock. The specialty finance company recently reported that Q1 earnings rose year over year. The stock trades for a 7x forward PE.