Alliance Data Increases Share Buyback Authorization, Stock Gains 4%

Shares of Alliance Data Systems Corporation ADS were trading higher by around 4 percent on Thursday after the company announced that its Board of Directors approved a $500 million increase to an already existing stock repurchase program. Alliance Data is now authorized to acquire up to $1 billion of its stock throughout 2016 and the newly announced authorization replaces a previous program that expired at the end of 2015. "This increased authorization reflects a shift in our focus for 2016 to utilizing our free cash flow primarily for stock repurchases rather than a mix of repurchases and M&A, enabling us, as we have done historically, to acquire shares of our common stock at prices that we believe understate the value of our business," said Charles Horn, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Alliance Data. "We expect to execute stock repurchases while maintaining our current leverage ratios."