Dell plans $10 billion share buyback

DALLAS - Dell Inc. is reviving plans to buy back shares in the company and will begin to repurchase $10 billion in common stock this week, chairman and chief executive officer Michael Dell said yesterday.

The company suspended its buyback program in August 2006 until it could file a backlog of earnings reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Chief financial officer Don Carty said yesterday that there was no time frame for the repurchase plan. He said the company had $15 billion in cash and was generating an additional $1 billion per quarter that could be put toward the repurchase.

As of Oct. 19, Dell had about 2.24 billion shares outstanding.

"Dell is committed to a long-term share repurchase program as part of an overall capital-allocation plan that supports growth and also returns value to shareholders," Dell said in a statement. Stock buybacks increase a company's earnings per share, making the company more attractive to investors and typically boosting the stock's price.

The company's delayed restatements, filed in October, reduced profits $92 million for fiscal years 2003 through 2006, as well as the first quarter of fiscal 2007. The restatements were the result of an internal accounting probe, which found employees had misled auditors and manipulated results to meet performance goals.

Last week, Dell posted a 27 percent jump in third-quarter earnings sparked by growth in overseas markets such as Brazil, solid demand for notebooks, and falling prices for memory chips and other components.

Dell shares, which have ranged from $21.61 to $30.77 in the last year, lost 34 cents yesterday to close at $23.60.