This Week's 5 Smartest Stock Moves

If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Take my hand as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.

1. Drug infusion
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY  ) is putting more of its money where its mouth is.

The pharmaceuticals giant announced on Tuesday that it's authorizing a $3 billion share buyback, now that it's nearly 90% done with the original $3 billion repurchase plan it announced two years ago.

It's easy to be cynical about companies that perpetually buy stocks at free-falling prices, but that's definitely not the case here. Bristol-Myers Squibb is trading nicely higher now than it was when it initiated the first buyback.

Another point worth noting here is that Bristol-Myers Squibb shares are yielding a meaty 3.8%. Retiring gobs of shares -- and $3 billion would represent a little more than 5% of the current shares outstanding -- will be an investment that actually saves the company some serious money in disbursements.

2. Soda makers are popping up all over the world
SodaStream (Nasdaq: SODA  ) continues to grow in popularity, and the Israeli company has more countries to conquer after a strong stateside run over the past two years and a European boom before that.

In a Bloomberg interview this week, SodaStream reveals that it plans to launch in India and Greece next year.

India may not be a wealthy country -- and the rupee has been hit hard over the past year -- but it's hard to ignore the world's second-most populous nation. Greece may be at the heart of Europe's austerity calamity, but it's still a lively nation and a major tourist destination.

It's true that the rest of the world doesn't consume soda at our dizzying pace, but SodaStream's home-based solution does provide convenience, value, and eco-friendly benefits over traditional store-bought beverages.

Expanding its reach at this point is the smart thing to do.

3. This tablet may change everything
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG  ) may have announced an update to Android and a questionable social-sharing appliance during its Google I/O conference, but the potential game-changer may be its Nexus 7 tablet.

It may be just another 7-inch tablet trying in vain to take on the larger iPad, but Big G is packing a Kindle Fire-like price point of $199 into a device with richer resolution, a faster processor, and even a camera.

Sure, the camera's no match for that of the higher-priced iPad, but it will be good enough for videoconferencing. The Nexus 7 will also be lighter.

It's true that Google hasn't had a whole lot of success on the hardware end, but it's pricing its tablet aggressively to show the market that it has a richer ecosystem than skeptics give it credit for.

4. Stern is on the boob tube -- where he belongs
Google is also hoping to get its fledgling Google TV initiative off the ground.

One thing that should help is that Sirius XM Radio's (Nasdaq: SIRI  ) decision to make its streaming app available for Google TV.

Sirius XM has been offering Web-based subscriptions for a couple of years now, but it has been beefing up its streaming content. The satellite radio giant has also been making its online product more competitive with the growing Internet options.

Some of the features of the Google TV app include the option of starting any song from the beginning, as well as the ability to rewind as far back as five hours on many channels. Folks may not be buying Google TV sets or set-top boxes to hear radio, but Sirius XM's premium content is certainly compelling.

5. Li the people
Baidu's (Nasdaq: BIDU  ) Robin Li was named China's top CEO by Forbes China.

The Chinese subsidiary of the popular business magazine used CEO performance relative to compensation to rank its corporate chieftains, and Baidu's market-thumping performance over the years has certainly been noteworthy.

The stock's been a 13-bagger since being recommended to Motley Fool Rule Breakers six years ago, so why shouldn't the richest person in mainland China receive the accolades for leading the company that commands nearly 80% of China's search engine market higher?

Keep it coming
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