Tidewater recently announced a $200 million dollar buyback. Tidewater Inc. CEO Dean Taylor recently expressed optimism about earnings and about overseas opportunities at the company's annual meeting. The stock trades for 7.5x cash flow.

Sysco Corp. recently announced it will buy back 20 million shares upon completion of prior plan. Sysco Corp, the largest North American food distributor, is looking for opportunities to tap into the $1.5 trillion food service market outside the United States, chairman and chief executive Richard Schnieders said last week. The stock trades for 9x cash flow.

Corning, the world's top maker of fiber optic cable, announced a $500 million dollar buyback last Wednesday and added that its board also declared a regular quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share. After paying a dividend since 1881, the company decided to nix it 6 years ago. "This decision reflects our confidence in our strategic plan and our ability to continue to generate positive free cash flow in the future," Wendell Weeks, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. The liquid crystal display maker just yesterday posted strong second quarter earnings. The company’s Q2 profit did slip but only due to charges it took to settle asbestos litigation. Outside of that, adjusted earnings easily beat Wall Street expectations. "Our display technologies business had a strong quarter as consumer demand for all liquid crystal display applications continues to grow," said its chief executive, Wendell Weeks. The stock traded down and while some pointed to Q3 guidance being “at the low end of previous projections”, it was most likely down due to investors taking profits. Most analysts were upbeat regarding the company's second quarter, but as Argus Research Corp. analyst Jim Kelleher pointed out, “it gave investors a chance to collect profit on the stock after a steep incline.” Corning's stock is up 40 percent this year, so it made sense to see investors taking some profits off the table after a "midyear reality check." This type of profit-taking after a strong quarter definitely opens the door up for an entry.

Legg Mason recently announced it will buy back 5 million shares. Legg Mason reported a 22% increase in earnings for the first quarter of fiscal year 2008, driven by a rise in assets under management. The stock trades for 10x cash flow.

Textron recently announced it will buy back 24 million shares which replaces its prior plan. Shares of Textron Inc. soared to an all-time high recently after the maker of Bell helicopters and Cessna aircraft reported second-quarter earnings more than tripled on strong demand for its aerospace products. The stock trades for 8.5x cash flow.

Rohm & Haas recently announced a $2 billion dollar buyback upon completion of prior plan. Rohm and Haas Co. on Tuesday trimmed its 2007 profit target due in part to charges, and the company said it is feeling the effects of higher raw material costs as well as the weak U.S. building and construction markets, which is cutting into sales at its specialty materials business. The stock trades for 9x cash flow.

Williams Cos., which owns and runs natural gas pipelines, recently approved the repurchase of up to $1 billion in common stock. The energy company also announced it will form a new publicly traded master limited partnership for its gas pipeline assets. The initial asset in the pipeline partnership will be an interest in the company's NorthWest Piline, a 3,900-mile transmission system that accesses natural gas supplies in the Rocky Mountains, Canada and the San Juan Basin. Williams (WMB) target was recently raised at Credit Suisse to $38 from $34 based on future expected midstream sales. Credit Suisse maintained Outperform rating. A few months ago, the company announced the sale of essentially all of its energy trading unit which allowed it to shed $2.4 billion of trading liabilities from its balance sheet, which led to its credit rating recently getting bumped up a notch to BB+. This should allow WMB to post more consistent earnings (not to mention hopefully reduce its interest expense with a better debt rating and thus better interest rate). Its most recent quarter came in slightly below expectations, mainly due to the trading business. It is for this reason that the company traded at a slight discount to its peers. But its core business, natural gas exploration and production, is up big year over year, posting 27% profit growth. The stock has made a very nice run year to date but Credit Suisse recently upped its price target to $38 from $34 based on future expected midstream sales and maintained its Outperform rating.

The last one we’ll take a look at today is Tempur-Pedic International. The company, which makes mattresses and pillows, recently announced it will repurchase up to $200 million in shares. This announcement cam on the same day last week in which the company also raised its full year earnings outlook for 2007. This was mainly due to price increases on its Deluxe and Classic models in the third quarter. The following day, the company continued the good news when it posted Q2 earnings that had profit rising 26% year over year, easily beating expectations. The street responded by lifting the stock to 52 week highs and we then saw the analysts start chiming in as well. The Standard & Poor's equity analyst raised his price target by $4 to $37, noting the share buyback as well as a new mattress factory should continue to drive EPS growth. Stifel Nicolaus analyst John A. Baugh was also pleased with all the positive announcements. Baugh pointed out that "there was little to be critical of in this quarter, and the sharp pricing actions and strong orders bode well for the second half of the year.”