definitely part of the reason. the other reason that is a little more complicated, beyond simple share price concepts, is how a company is sitting in its industry, how its ratios are compared to its peers, etc. and how that relates to that company's attractiveness to buyout shops, private equity firms, or even other airlines (since we are an airline). and i know absolutely positively that is a big part of the reason that skywest inc. keeps buying back stock. they DO NOT want their cash on hand to make them too attractive to someone that might want to buy them. obviously, if someone really wants to buy them, then they will anyway. but someplace like cerebus (just an example off the top of my head, and my personal opinion is that it would be private shops like them who would be looking, as opposed to another airline. i have no real proof of what jerry might be avoiding) who is looking around for a good buy will be much more interested in a place with all the cash on hand, as oppossed to a place that took that cash and bought back some shares. of course, the dispostion of those shares after the buyback is important also. but i won't get into that here.

point being that the strategic value of buying back the stock to get rid of outstanding cash to look less attractive to someone that might otherwise try to buy the company, is definitely part of the reason that skywest inc. management bought back stock in the past couple of years.