Q: When is a Buyback not Really a Buyback?

A: When you cancel 80% of it because you don't have the cash and don't have a prayer of borrowing it.

"Expedia Inc. said Monday it is slashing the number of shares in its planned buyback by 80% due to a lack of acceptable funding, sending shares down 8.3% to $26.90 in early trading. On June 19, Expedia said it intends to repurchase up to 116.7 million shares (approximately 42% of common stock) at a price range of $27.50-$30.00, giving shares their biggest boost since the company went public in July 2005. Under the amended offer, Expedia now says it only willing to purchase up to 25 million shares (about 9% of the total outstanding) at the same price range, to expire August 8. "While we remain confident in Expedia's long-term prospects and will continue to be net buyers of our shares, the terms available to us in the current debt market environment were simply unacceptable," said chairman Barry Diller."

2 To Watch Today

PFE -- down 4% today on a quarterly report that contained bad news about their biggest drug, Lipitor. The stock sports a P/E under 12 and a dividend yield of 4.65%. The patent on Lipitor will expire in 2010, the main fear that overhangs the stock. Assuming reasonable growth of the rest of the business and loss of 40% of EPS due to Lipitor in 2010, if you believe that post Lipitor the stock can trade for a P/E of 20, the stock is a screaming buy at $22 and looks pretty good at $25 today.

UNP -- Railroad CSX reported strong pricing this morning and the stock is up considerably today. UNP is cheaper and has more old contracts left to reprice, it report tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if the stock jumped tomorrow.