Gilead has entered into an agreement with Goldman Sachs to repurchase $500 million of its common stock under an accelerated share buyback program. The repurchase represents about 7.2 million shares and the company has about 930.8 million shares outstanding. The current agreement is part of Gilead's $3 billion share repurchase plan announced in October. The Foster City, Calif.-based company will have about $2.2 billion left for buybacks upon completion of this accelerated transaction. The biotechnology firm's net income, excluding one-time items, jumped to $372.8 million or 78 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, beating Wall Street expectations. Gilead was able to achieve robust sales growth, backed by its strong HIV drug franchise. HIV drugs Truvada and Atripla have been performing exceptionally well, and their sales jumped in the quarter. Wachovia analyst George Farmer upgraded his rating for Gilead to outperform from market perform, saying in his note that the company should generate solid profit and sales growth through 2010 because there is likely to be little competition for its key drugs. The combined sales of Truvada and Atripla comprised 67% of Gilead's total product sales last year. A study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health found that patients with a high viral load were better off taking Truvada than GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Epzicom. Analyst Jason Kantor of RBC Capital Markets reiterated his outperform rating for Gilead, saying in his note to clients, "The results provide further proof of something that we already believed, which is that Truvada is the best backbone therapy for HIV." Citigroup analyst Dr. Yaron Werber reaffirmed a buy rating and a price target of $55 for Gilead. Werber said that the company could gain 5 cents a share in earnings for every 10% market-share gain in the U.S. and 15% market-share gain in Europe from patients switching to Truvada. JPMorgan said in late February that this year's flu season could be the strongest in four years, which could lead to "modest upside" to its second-quarter and fiscal 2008 estimates for Gilead, which receives royalties from Roche on Tamiflu sales. Gilead has generated a solid return on equity of 61.24% for 2007. The accelerated share buyback indicates that the company sees value in its shares. Backed by a strong HIV drug franchise, I believe the stock will generate healthy returns over the next 12 to 18 months. I think this is a good time to take a closer look at Gilead.

The company's officers and directors have recently been dipping into their wallets to purchase company stock. Company directors Scott Kriens, Chris Paisley and Michael Stark purchased shares of the company in February. The troika bought a collective 181,000 shares in February. The insider buying continued this month as two more directors picked up shares for a total of about $2.2 million. In addition, Crosslink Capital, a key shareholder, has recently bought over $20 million in stock. Shares of Equinix have lost nearly half their value since November as investors have moved to quickly dump high-priced stocks. To be sure, Equinix was quite expensive at the peak, trading for roughly 7 times projected 2008 sales. Then again, you can see why the stock had been pushed to startling highs: Equinix has been on a remarkable growth spurt, thanks to surging demand for its data center services. In a nutshell, Equinix hosts many of the Web servers that power leading Web sites, and also provides a high degree of interconnections between those sites. In the December quarter, Equinix boosted sales a hefty 46% to $138.7 million. Sales are expected to exceed $150 million in the current quarter, and management believes that they will grow at least 30% on a full-year basis to around $650 million. Sales growth should be augmented by a pair of recent acquisitions in the Netherlands and the U.K. Merriman Curhan Ford upgraded its rating for Equinix in February to neutral from buy, citing the recent selloff. Wachovia upgraded its rating to outperform from market perform, saying that the company's key performance metrics (sales pipeline, backlog and bookings) continue to exhibit signs of strong growth. Analysts note that the company is benefiting from favorable industry dynamics, as demand for Web interconnection services continues to grow at a fast rate. Deutsche Bank analysts, in citing their $120 price target, note that customer demand for new co-location space continues to surpass supply across the industry. As noted earlier, shares of Equinix now sport much more reasonable valuations. Along with the analyst upgrades, the recent insider purchases are a positive sign.

Build-A-Bear said earlier this month it was doubling the company's share repurchase program to up to $50 million after completing its review of strategic alternatives. Build-A-Bear had hired Lehman Bros. in June 2007 to help explore "strategic alternatives to enhance long-term shareholder value," including a possible sale of the company. But after an "extensive analysis" of those alternatives, Build-A-Bear decided to increase its existing $25 million share repurchase program announced in February 2007. The stock trades for 2x cash flow.

Airgas Inc. has reinstated a share repurchase plan after suspending it to finalize and integrate an acquisition it made. The plan, which authorizes the repurchase of up to $150 million of Airgas common stock, was put on hold while the Radnor, Pa., company completed the acquisition of Linde AG's U.S. bulk and packaged gas assets. Airgas had bought $13 million worth of stock under the authorization before suspending the buyback program. Airgas has about 82.6 million outstanding shares. The company is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and hardgoods, such as welding equipment. The stock trades for 8x cash flow.

Shoe and cap retailer Genesco Inc. said it will use part of a recent litigation settlement to buy back up to $100 million in stock. The company also posted a decline in quarterly earnings. The stock trades for 6.5x cash flow.

Retail brokerage firm Charles Schwab Corp. said Thursday its board of directors approved a plan to repurchase up to $500 million in common stock. The stock has a 9 PE ratio.

Bermuda-based Tyco Electronics Ltd. said Thursday its board of directors authorized a $500 million increase in the company's share buyback program to $1.25 billion from $750 million. The company, which split from diversified manufacturer Tyco International Inc. last year, said through the end of February it has spent $512 million of the $750 million the company originally authorized in September 2007. The company makes passive components and electronics for telecommunication systems, including underwater fiber optics and wireless electronics. The stock trades for 7.5x cash flow.

The San Diego-based wireless communications company initiated a new $2 billion stock buyback program. This new buyback replaces the company's previous $3 billion dollar buyback which has $2 million remaining. The world's second-largest maker of cell phone chips also said that it will increase its quarterly dividend 14% to 16 cents a share from 14 cents a share. Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm commented, "We continue to execute on our strategic objectives, driving strong operating cash flows and enabling us to return capital to stockholders through stock repurchases and dividends." Since 2003, the company has returned $8.5 billion to stockholders through buybacks and cash dividends. On January 23rd, Qualcomm reported first quarter earnings of 46 cents a share, a 21% jump from the same period last year. During the quarter the company experienced profits of $767 million an increase 18% year-over-year and revenues of $2.44 billion. The quarter was highlighted by strong demand for cell phones with internet access that allows the user to download music and videos. The impressive results came against legal battles with rival BRCM, which ban Qualcomm from selling some chips that infinge on Broadcom patents. Oppenheimer Research expects Qualcomm's earnings to improve over the next 12-18 months and raised their price target from $46 to $52. They are positive on the stock because their legal battles should be clearing up soon, the company continues to gain market share in 3G chips, and potentially strong EPS growth from high demand for smartphones.