Novell yesterday announced that it will be repurchasing up to $100 million worth of its own stock and, revealingly enough, the business world seems not to have noticed, based on the scant mentions in today's news.

In January, Jefferies analyst Katherine Egbert predicted the buyback when she raised her rating on Novell stock from hold to buy and jacked her price target 50 cents to $7.50, according to Barrons. Egbert appears to have been looking for something a bit bolder, however:

Egbert also notes that the company is “sitting atop a pile of cash” - $1.3 billion, or about $3.64 a share. That is well over half of the current market cap. She thinks a share repurchase would be a logical step, and notes that a $500 million buyback could boost EPS by about 5 cents. She currently sees EPS of 23 cents in the October 2008 fiscal year and 27 cents in 2009.

Novell opens this morning at $6.50.