Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc. is the latest in a string of local technology companies to put their cash to use buying up their own shares.
Ingram is the biggest distributor of computers, software, consumer electronics and other technology products.
The company said Thursday it’s set to tack on another $100 million share repurchase to its existing buyback program.
The original program, which got the green light back in 2007, was for the repurchase of some $300 million worth of shares.
The company repurchased about 18 million shares since the three-year program began, according to Chief Executive Gregory Spierkel.
During the current quarter, Ingram bought back 3 million shares for $52 million. The company ended the first quarter with $911 million in cash and short-term assets.
“Repurchasing shares demonstrates the confidence we have in our company and our commitment to enhancing shareholder value,” Spierkel said. “We were able to complete the previous program while maintaining the financial flexibility to pursue strategic investments, due to our sound management of capital. We plan a similar approach with the new authorization, repurchasing shares while investing in growth and initiatives that improve our market position and profitability.”
Investors generally like stock buybacks, since they prop up a company’s stock by shrinking the pool of outstanding shares.
Irvine-based chipmaker Broadcom Corp. and Aliso Viejo’s Quest Software Inc., a maker of business software, have both done stock buybacks in the past year.
Ingram’s shares were off 1% in afterhours trading after closing up 4% in regular trading on a market value of about $3 billion.
