Buyback Boon: P&G;, Dow, Campbell Soup Take Stock

More than 100 corporations have said that they are buying back stock from shareholders because they consider the shares suddenly undervalued and, therefore, a good investment. The announcements by the companies have helped return a degree of investor confidence on the market, although few companies have yet begun actually buying back large amounts of stock.

Among the companies announcing stock buyback programs on Friday are Procter & Gamble, which said that it plans to repurchase up to 10 million of its 169.2 million shares outstanding from time to time, and Campbell Soup, which said that its board has authorized the repurchase of up to 4 million of its 65 million shares.

Additionally, Dow Chemical said it would start its 1988 stock repurchase program this year due to market conditions. Dow said it would buy 2 million of its 192 million shares under the program.

In Burbank, AME Inc., a firm that specializes in transferring movies to videotape, said that its directors authorized the company to buy back up to $3 million of its shares. Petrolane Partners in Long Beach, an affiliate of Texas Eastern Corp., said that it would buy back up to 500,000 of its 24 million partnership units.

Separately, Angeles Corp., a Los Angeles investment management company, said that it repurchased 100,000 shares for $812,500 in block trades on the American Stock Exchange.