It was a good day for Veeco Instruments (VECO) despite the fact the stock finished down a bit.  In the morning, Citi maintained its Buy rating and $52 price target.  Hat tip to Street Insider for the analyst comment:

“Consistent with our prior commentary that the low $30’s is a key trigger point for this stock, we are increasing F2011 EPS from $4.66 to $4.85 and adding the stock to Top Picks Live, Citi’s list of best ideas. The catalyst for our call is a series of checks which add confidence that the Street is overly concerned about an order cliff in the LED/solar business. We now have increased confidence that orders should remain robust (flat +/- 10%) through year-end and even into CQ1:11.”

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Shares of VECO continue to hover around the $30 level which is a big area of support and a possibly rally point.  News of a $200 million stock buyback program after the bell may just be the catalyst to get the stock moving again.  It’s up 2% in after hours trading.