Acxiom Approves Buyback (ACXM)

Acxiom Corporation (ACXM) recently announced that the Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program. Under the program, Acxiom is authorized to repurchase up to $50 million of its outstanding shares of common stock over the next twelve months.

Acxiom did not repurchase any shares in fiscal 2010 or 2011. During fiscal 2009, the company repurchased 0.3 million shares for $2.1 million.

Earlier in the year, Acxiom announced that its Board of Directors has named marketing and advertising veteran Scott E. Howe as the company’s Chief Executive officer and President.

Howe is a former Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Advertising Business Groups. Prior to Microsoft, he served in multiple executive positions in interactive company aQuantive, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2007.

Earlier, the company’s CEO and President John A. Meyer and CFO Christopher W. Wolf resigned from their posts.

Last month, Acxiom reported revenues of $288.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, up 6.9% year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $277 million.

Net income jumped 11.9% year over year to $10.9 million. Earnings per share came in at 13 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Axciom seems to be plagued with problems. Along with the recent change in management, we remain concerned about the several lawsuits against Axciom, alleging it of having violated the Exchange Act. The stock holders allege that the financial statements issued by the company were false and misleading, which artificially inflated the price of Acxiom’s securities.

Given the uncertainty around Axciom's state of affairs, we continue to maintain a Neutral recommendation on the stock. Our Neutral recommendation is supported by a Zacks #3 Rank which translates into a short-term rating of Hold.