However, the price changed only a little. Dole closed at $37.371/2, down 25 cents, with more than 1.6 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, up from a daily average of 208,000 shares. At today's price a buyback of 5 percent of the shares, 3 million of the 60 million outstanding, would cost about $113 million.

Honolulu analyst Richard Dole of Fry & Co. said the stock has been down lately and although such buy-backs are intended to improve the price, they don't always work.

He noted that Dole stock fell in price after David H. Murdock, chairman and chief executive officer, announced in July that he would sell 3.6 million of his own Dole shares, reducing his holding to about 16 percent of the company, from 27 percent.

Murdock said today that the Dole board of directors authorized the company to buy Dole shares on the open market and in privately negotiated transactions.

The timing and the number of shares to be bought will depend on market conditions, he said.

"The board believes that Dole's shares are from time to time undervalued by the market," Murdock said. "We believe that our stock is a good investment at recent market prices and that purchases by the company will enhance the potential for growth in earnings per share of the Dole shares that remain outstanding," he said.

Before the buyback was announced, analyst Michael Branca of Lehman Brothers in New York yesterday downgraded his opinion of Dole to "neutral" from "buy." But Goldman Sachs & Co. analyst Nomi Ghez placed the stock on its list of recommended issues. Neither analyst could be reached for comment today.

Dole announced Friday that its third-quarter earnings will be near the low end of analysts' estimates. The analysts have predicted earnings ranging from 38 cents a share to 50 cents a share.

That announcement caused the stock to drop nearly $3 to $40.121/2 Friday and it has since slipped another $2.75.