Dell Using Cash For Value Buyback Rather Than More M&A (DELL, AAPL, HPQ)

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is going to try to be a bit opportunistic, but this time in buying its own stock on the cheap.  The PC giant (and IT-services player) has authorized a share buyback plan of up to $5 billion.  Unlike some buyback plans where no shares get acquired, Dell noted that the company has already spent about $1.6 billion solely on share buybacks during the first half of its fiscal year.

To help matters along, this new $5 billion announcement is listed as “an addition to the $2.16 billion remaining from prior authorizations at the end of the company’s second fiscal quarter.”  Dell had previously reported that  it had repurchased some $1.1 billion in common shares during the second quarter.

Dell ended its last quarter with a record level of some $16.2 billion in cash and investments.  The company noted, “we have the flexibility to continue making opportunistic share repurchases as a key element of our disciplined capital allocation strategy.”

We recently featured Dell as a Technology Value Pick and that is still the case.  The PC business might not be a highly exciting one in a world dominated by Apple, but it has a serious opportunity to overtake Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) in many areas now that H-P is in such disarray.

Dell closed up 1.3% at $14.38 and shares are indicated up around $14.70 in the after-hours trading session against a 52-week trading range of $12.12 to $17.60.

Dell remains one of our 20 or so top dividend offenders, the companies which just refuse to commit to a dividend strategy.

JON C. OGG