"Case to accelerate, add to, repurchase plan"
RACINE, Wis., July 10 (Reuters) - Case Corp., whose shares
fell to a 52-week low Friday, said it will speed up its current
share repurchase program and begin a new program to repurchase
up to an additional eight million shares.
The previous program which called for four million shares
to be bought back, is expected to be substantially completed by
the third quarter, the agricultural and construction equipment
maker said.
The new program of eight million shares represents about 11
percent of the company's shares outstanding, Case said.
"The acceleration of our current share repurchase program
and implementation of a new program that is double in size
reflects the company's confidence in its ability to deliver
superior financial results over time," Case chairman and chief
executive Jean-Pierre Rosso said in a news release.
But in the short-term, Case said last week that second
quarter earnings would fall below the $1.74 results of a year a
ago, due to delays in sales of agricultural equipment in the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
Then on Thursday, J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Gary
McManus cut his rating on Case and two other farm equipment
companies to market perform after one of them, New Holland NV
, told analysts second quarter earnings would be below
consensus expectations. |
