Sherwin-Williams Co., the nation's largest paint maker, said Tuesday third-quarter earnings rose 12 percent, as strong sales at paint stores helped offset softness in the new residential construction market. It also recently announced it will increase its share buyback authorization to 30 million shares of common stock.

Packaging Corp. of America, a supplier of containerboard and corrugated packaging products, recently issued a fourth-quarter profit prediction above Wall Street estimates. The company also recently announced a $150 million dollar buyback. The stock trades for 8.5x cash flows.

Kimball International Inc., which makes furniture and electronic assemblies, recently said its board of directors voted to expand the company's stock buyback authorization by 2 million shares of common stock. The stock trades for 6x cash flows.

Two directors recently bought 54,327 shares or $857,669 worth of stock. Weak first-quarter results and a guidance reduction sent the company's share price down nearly 10 percent last week. Before that, shares were already down about 35 percent since October of last year. The stock trades for 6x cash flows.

The CEO recently bought 500,000 shares or $1,392,000 worth of stock. Private Media Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides adult media content for various media platforms.

BioFuel Energy Corp. said Monday it will repurchase up to $7.5 million worth of common stock with funds previously designated for building a third ethanol plant. BioFuel Energy said early last week it halted plans for a third ethanol facility due to a product glut that has sent ethanol prices tumbling. The company estimates it will have as much as $20 million available under its $230 million worth of construction loans after building two other planned facilities. It also has about $60 million from its June public offering.

C.R. Bard Inc. said Wednesday it authorized the repurchase of up to $500 million of its common stock. The medical technologies developer trades for 14x cash flow.

Lockheed Martin is in this week’s portfolio. The maker of missile systems and jet fighters said it will add an additional 20 million shares to its existing buyback plan. During the third quarter the Bethesda, Md. aerospace company repurchased over 4 million shares and raised its dividend 20% to 42 cents a share. CFO Bruce Tanner commented, “These actions are consistent with our commitment to return more than 50% of our annual free cash flow to shareholders.” Also recently, Lockheed Martin said Tuesday its third quarter profit jumped 22%. For the quarter, LMT earned $766 million, or $1.80 a share, up from $629 million, or $1.46 a share from the third quarter last year, and squashing analysts’ expectations of $1.64 a share. Revenue came in at $11.1 billion, 16% better than last year's mark of $9.61 billion. Lockheed's star performer was their aeronautics division, where operating profit jumped 31% to $414 million. Operating cash flow surged to $935 million in the quarter, totaling $3.8 billion since the beginning of the year. In a press release Bob Stevens, Lockheed’s Chairman, President and CEO said, “In the third quarter we achieved double-digit growth in sales and operating earnings for every business segment, as well as double digit EPS growth for the corporation.” He continued, “These results reflect the outstanding efforts of our talented workforce and leadership team, both of which are responsible for delivering consistently strong operational and financial performance.” Lockheed Martin surpassed Bear Stearns' expectations, and for that reason they received an outperform rating and $115 price target. From the Q3, 07 earnings report Bear was especially pleased with their "strong cash performance in what is usually a light quarter for cash", and all of LMT's four segments delivering double digit sales growth. Higher backlog, which Bear believes will exceed $75 billion by year end, and margin improvements that beat the rest of the industry added to the stellar quarter.