3 More Firms Join Movement Toward Buying Back Stocks

The stock buyback movement gained momentum Friday as three more Orange County companies--along with scores of businesses nationwide--approved plans to repurchase their common shares in the wake of a record-shattering market decline.

Authorizing buyback programs Friday were Eldorado Bancorp, PacifiCare Health Systems and Western Digital. They bring to 10 the number of county-based firms that intend to take advantage of depressed stock prices by purchasing their own shares.

Western Digital, an Irvine-based electronics company, directed the trustee of its employee stock ownership plan to purchase up to $5 million worth of its common stock on the open market over an unspecified period of time.

The board of directors of Eldorado Bancorp of Laguna Hills, holding company of Eldorado Bank in Tustin, voted to purchase up to 50,000 of its nearly 2 million common shares on the open market from time to time, depending on market conditions.

PacifiCare, a Cypress health maintenance organization, reported that it will buy up to 500,000 of its 6 million shares outstanding when market and business conditions are favorable.

Earlier in the week, Safeguard Health Enterprises doubled the ceiling on its ongoing stock repurchase program to 1.6 million shares. Safeguard, an Anaheim-based provider of dental care plans, bought more than 200,000 shares of its common stock this week, adding to 691,000 already accumulated since October, 1986. The company has 7.1 million common shares outstanding.