Gilbert Enterprises round of golf at the country club, he promised to get back with them in the next few days with his recommendations on a stock repurchase Tom Gilbert, founder and chairman of the board of Gilbert Enterprises, could not believe his eyes as he read the quote about his firm in The Wall Street Journal The stock had closed at 35 1/4, down 3 3/4 points for the week. He called his vice president of finance, Jane Arnold, and they agreed to meet on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. for breakfast. The Firm's Business When Jane arrived, they reviewed the stock's performance for the last few months. Although the stock opened the year (2016) at 28 per share, it had reached a high of 50 in March, but had steadily slid in value to its current level of 35 1/4 in mid-May. Tom and Jane both thought the stock was undervalued in the marketplace and were seriously considering an announcement that the firm was going to repurchase up to one million of its own shares in the open market beginning on June 1t of 2016 They thought that would send a message to investors that the market had placed the stock at an unrealistically low level Gilbert Enterprises was the third largest firm in the auto parts replacement industry, specializing in brake parts, power transmissions, batteries, cables and other products related to used automobiles Although most auto industry advertising relates to flashy new cars, Albert Roth knew that the auto parts replacement industry was becoming increasingly important. His research indicated that the average age of an automobile life had reached 11.6 years in 2016, up from a mere 6.8 years in the mid-1980's. Why? New vehicle price increases had far surpassed the rise in consumer income. People are now forced to keep their old cars longer whether they want to or not Furthermore, legislation has mandated more emission inspections and maintenance programs. Consumers are now being forced to spend more money to update older automobiles to meet these standards Before taking any action, they decided to consult with their investment banking representative, Albert Roth, senior vice president at the investment banking firm of Baker, Green and Roth. Roth had aided the firm in initially selling its stock to the public (going public) five years ago and was quite familiar with its operations Although he was surprised to receive their call during an early Saturday morning