Rainbow Announces Stock Buyback Plan

With its stock near its lowest level in the last year, Rainbow Technologies Inc. said it has approved a plan to buy back another 750,000 shares of stock from time to time, subject to market conditions.

The Irvine company’s stock fell 28%, or $4.31 a share, to $11.13 on Thursday after Rainbow said it expects first-quarter earnings to fall below analysts’ expectations. The shares, which had traded as high as $26.38 in January, hit a low of $10.44 last August. The shares closed Friday at $11, down 13 cents.

Under the previous buyback program, Rainbow’s board had authorized the purchase of up to 1.13 million shares of stock.

The company makes programs to protect against software piracy.