Nothing that odd about a buyback, but in this case this is the first time Avnet is repurchasing stock in at least a decade.

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Since individual investors using this strategy must wait 30 days before repurchasing any stock sold at a loss to avoid triggering the wash sale rule, these stocks can decline in December and rise in January.

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In the run-up, much of the buying has come from companies repurchasing their own stock.

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Yet given the cash hoarding Scrooges corporations have become over the past two years, it speaks volumes that these very same firms (and the individuals running them) now think the best use of their hard earned cash is in repurchasing their own stock.

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Business execution was strong, especially in the cable content division, and the company continued its shareholder friendly behavior, both repurchasing a significant amount of stock and announcing that it would be splitting the company into two separate entities.

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He also predicted that Coca-Cola (nyse: KO - news - people ), Berkshire's largest equity position, would begin repurchasing its shares once the stock dropped to a point at which it was selling at 20 times earnings.

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Stock buybacks give executives more flexibility since there is no negative connotation associated with repurchasing fewer shares than allowed by the announced size of the program.

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Neither is such massive share repurchasing uncommon among tech companies, which tend to reward a lot of employees with stock options.

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