Humana (HUM) recently announced a share buyback of up to $150 million. Judging by recent operating results, management's bullishness appears to be justified. Humana's fourth-quarter 2007 profits jumped 57% to $243 million, boosted by a one-time gains and a lower tax rate. EPS came in at $1.43, $0.11 ahead of the Wall Street forecasts. Also, the Louisville, KY-based health insurer's profit growth was far more impressive than peers Wellpoint (WLP) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which boosted year-over-year EPS 7% and 3%, respectively. On the heels of strong results, Humana raised its earnings guidance for 2008 to between $5.35 and $5.55, leading the consensus forecast to rise $0.07 to $5.50. Humana earned $4.91 a share in 2007. While Medicare Advantage (MA) membership rose by 14%, the quarterly benefits ratio (benefit expenses as a percent of premium revenue) came down by 290 basis points to 80.3%. Humana ended the fourth quarter with 1.14 million patients enrolled in its MA plans. That metric rose to 1.24 million at the end of January, and Humana aims to add between 200,000 and 250,000 additional members in 2008. Of course, recent cuts in funding for government-sponsored programs like Medicare and Medicaid could pressure Humana's top and bottom lines. To offset potential regulatory limits in the government-sponsored programs, Humana is using its considerable financial strength to augment the core business through acquisitions. Humana bought KMG America and CompBenefits in 2007. KMG America's voluntary products complement Humana's offerings, while CompBenefits offers a full-service vision product and has more than 25 years of experience in dental plans. Goldman Sachs' Bosch added in his note to clients that there is a "building realization that the MA program is likely to be a long-term vehicle for Medicare cost-containment, even under a potentially Democratic White House and Congress post the elections." Analyst Dave Shove of BMO Capital Markets said that health insurers are poised to benefit from stable cost trends and a lack of threats to reimbursement rates in 2008. Shares of most major managed-care companies have dipped on concerns surrounding New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's plans to sue commercial insurers. Humana does not have a great deal of exposure to Medicare, and is unlikely to be heavily affected by the lawsuits. Shares of Humana now trade below $65, well below the $88.10 52-week high. The company has been generating attractive earnings growth, has a return on equity of 23.54% and a decent amount of cash on its balance sheet. I expect the shares to yield positive returns over the next few years.

Aetna Inc. said Friday that its board approved the repurchase of up to an additional $750 million of the health insurer's common stock. The authorization is in addition to about $700 million remaining under Aetna's prior authorizations, the company said. As of Dec. 31, Aetna had about 496 million shares outstanding. The stock trades for 6.5x cash flow.

The Valero Energy Corp. board of directors approved a new $3 billion share repurchase authorization. Valero purchased $5.8 billion worth of its stock in 2007 and has $1 billion remaining under a previously announced buyback authorization, giving it $4 billion available for stock repurchases going forward. The stock trades for 4x cash flow.

Cypress Semiconductor (CY) has recently increased the number of shares it plans to buy back. The chipmaker's board has authorized the repurchase of an additional $300 million shares, doubling of the ongoing buyback program to $600 million. Cypress has repurchased 12.2 million shares for $269 million since the initiation of the program in January 2007. Cypress' sales grew 50% from a year ago to $431 million, but fell 4% sequentially. On a GAAP basis, diluted earnings per share fell to $0.04 in the December quarter, less than the $0.09 a share earned in the third quarter of 2007 and well below the $0.18 a share earned in the fourth quarter of 2006. Cypress witnessed a broad-based and unexpected decline in orders in December. Cypress also has strong exposure to the solar-power industry, thanks to its controlling interest in Sunpower (SPWR). That was a big positive earlier in the year when solar stocks were surging. But investors' taste for solar companies has cooled, sending shares of Sunpower down more than 50% in the last three months. The costs associated with producing solar energy are still very high, which bodes ill in the face of a slowdown in consumer spending. As noted earlier, Cypress' core semiconductor market is also softening. Cypress' shares have fallen some 50% since hitting the 52-week high in late December. And a tepid economic environment this winter is likely to keep shares depressed in the near-term. Earlier this week, Cypress also announced problems rolling over $67.8 million in short-term debt due to trouble in the auction-rate market. That's another reason to stay on the sidelines for now, despite the appeal of large stock buybacks.

Ceradyne Inc., a maker of ceramic parts for military and industrial use, said Tuesday its board of directors approved a plan to repurchase up to $100 million in common stock. The stock trades for 3x cash flow.

Chipmaker Zoran Corp. said it plans to repurchase up to $100 million of its outstanding common stock. Based on the company's recent stock price, the buyback represents about 7.3 million shares, or 14 percent of the company's 51 million outstanding shares. The stock trades for 7.5x cash flow.

Avid Technology’s board approved a $100 million increase in funds for a stock repurchase program, the film and video tools company said last week. Avid completed its previous stock repurchases of about $100 million. The new stock repurchase program will be funded using the company's working capital. The stock trades for 13x cash flow.

San Jose's chip-maker said its board approved an $800 million buyback plan. Specific factors, like the number and price of the repurchases, will depend on market conditions. The company also said it will increase its quarterly cash dividend to 14 cents a share from 12 cents a share. On Jan. 17th, the logic chip maker who supplies nearly every market announced third quarter 2008 earnings with sales up 7% and operating margins exceeding 24%. The company experienced net revenues of $474.8 million, a 7% jump from the previous quarter and a 5% increase from the same period last year. Net income rocketed 40% to $103.6 million or 35 cents a share, beating analysts’ expectations of 32 cents a share. The company said stronger then expected sales were fueled by strength in defense and consumer applications. "Xilinx has consistently generated healthy free cash flow and our dividend yield is one of the highest in the semiconductor industry. The increased dividend and share repurchase program demonstrates our commitment to returning value to our stockholders," stated Xilinx’s recently elected CEO, Moshe Gavrielov. Analyst David Wong from Wachovia Capital Markets slapped the stock with an outperform rating, explaining that Xilinx expects communications revenue to be up on strong demand of networking infrastructure in Japan and China. In addition, consumer revenue in that region is expected to be above normal as we approach the 2008 Olympic Games. The strong quarter, attractive valuation, and the share repurchase plan also add to Xilinx’s bullish story. "As the largest supplier of programmable logic device chips (PDL), Xilinx benefits form high profitability, stable pricing environment, and low capital requirements," said Wong, who expects the stock to be trading between $28 and $32 (now trading at $23).