The buyback is a great investment if they can actually find someone stupid enough to sell $5,000,000 in stock near these prices! What a beautiful performance given the economic backdrop. What could be better than to own an industry leader with a fortress balance sheet at WAY under tangible book value and with $20 million of cash? The cycle will turn eventually and it will pay big time to remain patient. It will be much more enjoyable and less stressful to do so this time versus the 2003-2006 cycle, that is for sure! The biggest news from the quarter was the gross margin improvement, which could be the hidden lever for the next cycle should input costs remain more contained. High teen gross margins could translate into $3.00-$3.50 earnings power during the next cycle. The stock peaked around $30 last cycle and that would be a good target. I'd say $20 is a layup (March Madness Baby!), $30 is likely and $40 wouldn't surprise me.

I bought a decent sized position at $5.50 for myself and have put my father "all in" again for the 2nd time (first time in February 2003 in the low $3 range) at just over $5.00. MLR will likely end up being the single largest contributor to my father's retirement.

Finally, for the person who asked about my market/economic views, feel free to sign up for the weekly email commentary I author which can be found at my firm's website, www.teamfinancial.net