Shares of iRobot Corp. rose 0.8% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the consumer robot company said it launched a $50 million stock buyback program, that runs from March 28 to Dec. 28, 2018. The company did not repurchase any shares in fiscal 2017, according to recent regulatory filings, after spending a total of $134.4 million on repurchases in 2016 and 2015. Based on Monday’s closing stock price of $69.62, the company could buy back about 718,184 shares, or about 2.6% of the shares outstanding. “With a strong balance sheet and cash flows, we believe we can take advantage of volatile market conditions to buy back our shares while maintaining the flexibility to make strategic investments in our future,” said Chief Executive Colin Angle. The stock was little changed over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 had gained 6.9%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News