The managed health care provider Health Net raised its 2007 earnings outlook on an expected lower share count, the result of a $450 million buyback program. The Woodland Hills company said its revenue and profit were higher than Wall Street expectations. Revenue is estimated at $14 billion to $15 billion for 2007. Health Net also increased its profit outlook by $0.05 to $3.65 a share. The company previous announced it planned to repurchase 2.8 million shares of common stock.

Diodes Inc. forecast a 60 percent increase in revenues for 2006 over the previous year based on reaffirmed financial guidance, the company announced Wednesday. For 2005, Diodes saw its revenues climb to $214.8 million, a 15.6 percent increase over revenues for all of 2004. For the full year 2005, Diodes earned a record $33.3 million, or $1.29 per share, versus $25.6 million, or $1.10 per share, in 2004. The Westlake Village-based semiconductor manufacturer expects fourth quarter sequential growth to be in the 1 percent to 3 percent range and gross margin to be comparable to the third quarter of 2006. For the third quarter ending Sept. 30, the company posted a net profit of $12.8 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, on revenues of $92.6 million. That was an increase over the net profit of $8.3 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, on revenues of $54 million for the same period in 2005. In October, the company acquired APD Semiconductor, a privately held semiconductor company based in Redwood City, Calif. Diodes provides discrete and analog semiconductor products to the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics, and automotive markets.

The board of directors of Thousand Oaks biotech company Amgen Inc. has voted to allow additional buy backs of up to $5 billion in company stock. Amgen has about $1.5 billion left under its previous stock repurchase authorization, the company said. In a release, the company said the “new authorization reflects Amgen’s confidence in its long-term prospects.”

Santa Clarita hotels had some of the highest occupancy rates in Los Angeles County during October, according to the most recent study of hotel trends by the tracking firm PKF Consulting. The occupancy rate stood at 83.60 percent, the second highest of the 16 areas surveyed in the study after West Los Angeles, but 2.7 percent lower than October 2005, the study found. The average daily rate increased 9.4 percent, tallying $125.21 for the month. Hotel rooms in the Valley, meanwhile, also saw daily rates jump 10.5 percent from $113.80 to $125.78 a night. Occupancies dipped .2 percent to 78.30 percent. Countywide, the occupancy rate stood at 78.51 percent, a 1.7 percent increase. The daily room rate was $147.49, up 11.5 percent from a year ago.

K-Swiss Inc. today declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share for shareholders of record on Jan. 15. The Westlake Village-based footwear maker saw a slight dip in its quarterly profit for the third quarter, reporting net earnings of $21 million or $0.59 per share versus $21.1 million or $0.59 per share in the year earlier period. The company nevertheless beat analyst’s expectations for the period.

The Valencia theme park Magic Mountain will remain open in 2007,although which company will run it is unclear. In a call to investors this morning, Six Flags CEO Mark Shapiro said the company has decided not to close Magic Mountain and redevelop the land for other uses. However, he did not say the company will not sell the park. “I can’t underscore this enough: Magic Mountain will be open for business in 2007 and will stay open for the foreseeable future, no matter who owns it,” Shapiro said in a call to investors. Six Flags this summer announced it was milling over plans to Magic Mountain in a bid to reduce debt and realign its theme parks with a more family-friendly image. It was suspected the property, just west of the Golden State (5) Freeway, could be sold to a real estate developer. The New York company operates 30 parks across the county.

Countrywide Financial Corp. said today that mortgage loan fundings declined 11 percent to $38 billion from November 2005 levels and 8 percent compared to the prior month. Purchase loan funding fell 18 percent in November to $16 billion as compared with the prior year. Countrywide’s servicing portfolio, which has taken over the lion’s share of its mortgage business as the home sales market has slowed, increased 17 percent to $1.3 trillion as of November 30, 2005.

A Singapore company has acquired Newbury Park-based Nomadix Inc., a provider of network devices for the hospitality industry. MagiNet will acquire the company to boost the firm’s offerings. Nomadix, which provides Internet services to more than 2 million hotel rooms, will continue to operate from its Newbury Park offices, the companies said.

The operator of car dealership in Lancaster is opening a new location in Palmdale. Mike Johnson plans to construct a dealership and service center on Carriage Way and Auto Center Drive. Johnson runs Antelope Valley Ford and Shuttle Lincoln Mercury in Lancaster. The project is expected to open in December 2008.

The Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce holds its business after hours monthly mixer. 5:30 p.m. The Madison 24555 Town Center Dr., Valencia (661) 702-6977 scvchamber.com