Buyback Scorecard A Tale of Two Stock Buybacks Best and Worst Programs Industry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 269 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from December 31, 2011, through December 31, 2013. The companies are ranked according to their return on investment from these repurchases. As calculated by Fortuna Advisors, a New York City-based consultancy that compiled the data for Institutional Investor , buyback ROI measures the overall rate of return of buybacks, based on the internal rate of return of the cash flows associated with them. Buyback strategy tracks the performance of the underlying stock in terms of annualized total shareholder return. Once Fortuna determines buyback ROI and buyback strategy, buyback effectiveness can then be calculated as simply the difference between the two, determined as compounded return.

How the S&P 500 Stack Up as Stock Repurchasers 1—50 | 51—100 | 101—150 | 151—200 | 201—250 | 251—269
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$45,904	$3,097	8.1%	26.7%	2.3%	29.5%
	Median		$19,140	$1,452	7.0%	25.6%	1.3%	29.3%
151	CareFusion Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	8,416	751	8.9	25.8	0.2	26.0
152	Capital One Financial Corp.	Diversified Financials	44,325	1,076	2.4	29.1	-2.4	26.0
153	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Banks	219,810	6,442	2.9	34.0	-6.2	25.7
154	Pfizer	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	198,515	17,861	9.0	29.2	-2.8	25.6
155	Corning	Technology Hardware and Equipment	25,789	2,287	8.9	12.2	11.8	25.4
156	Robert Half International	Commercial and Professional Services	5,798	345	5.9	23.1	1.8	25.4
157	KLA-Tencor Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipmen	10,742	528	4.9	21.2	3.3	25.2
158	XL Group	Insurance	9,005	1,079	12.0	26.4	-1.0	25.1
159	Wells Fargo & Co.	Banks	239,149	7,896	3.3	33.1	-6.1	25.0
160	Union Pacific Corp.	Transportation	77,376	3,692	4.8	29.5	-3.6	24.9
161	Kimberly-Clark Corp.	Household and Personal Products	39,866	2,500	6.3	25.6	-0.6	24.8
162	Covidien	Healthcare Equipment and Services	30,809	2,596	8.4	28.2	-2.8	24.6
163	Symantec Corp.	Software and Services	16,412	1,401	8.5	19.5	4.2	24.5
164	Rockwell Collins	Capital Goods	9,993	932	9.3	16.5	6.8	24.4
165	Dollar Tree	Retailing	11,741	1,452	12.4	20.1	3.6	24.4
166	Ross Stores	Retailing	16,104	1,059	6.6	31.4	-5.4	24.3
167	Microsoft Corp.	Software and Services	312,297	11,714	3.8	21.4	2.2	24.1
168	UnitedHealth Group	Healthcare Equipment and Services	75,809	6,254	8.2	25.3	-1.2	23.8
169	Humana	Healthcare Equipment and Services	16,093	1,049	6.5	10.4	12.0	23.7
170	ConocoPhillips	Energy	86,553	5,098	5.9	21.2	2.0	23.7
171	DIRECTV	Media	36,287	9,175	25.3	18.8	3.8	23.3
172	The J. M. Smucker Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	10,894	816	7.5	21.0	1.2	22.4
173	Apache Corp.	Energy	34,310	1,106	3.0	-1.6	24.5	22.4
174	AutoNation	Retailing	6,053	643	40.6	17.0	4.6	22.4
175	Airgas	Materials	8,249	600	7.3	25.0	-2.1	22.3
176	Colgate-Palmolive Co.	Household and Personal Products	60,333	3,464	5.7	22.0	0.2	22.2
177	Monsanto Co.	Materials	61,178	2,062	3.4	25.6	-2.8	22.1
178	The Chubb Corp.	Insurance	24,328	2,247	9.2	21.4	0.5	22.0
179	Citigroup	Banks	158,050	1,488	0.9	35.0	-9.8	21.7
180	Macy's	Retailing	19,677	2,565	13.0	28.4	-5.3	21.5
181	Schlumberger	Energy	118,671	2,570	2.2	15.2	5.3	21.3
182	Autodesk	Software and Services	11,352	588	7.5	16.8	3.8	21.2
183	QUALCOMM	Technology Hardware and Equipment	125,441	6,826	5.4	16.6	4.0	21.2
184	CA Technologies	Software and Services	15,185	1,333	8.8	27.5	-5.0	21.1
185	People's United Financial	Banks	4,653	683	14.7	14.8	5.3	20.8
186	W.W. Grainger	Capital Goods	17,729	779	4.4	24.0	-2.6	20.8
187	Norfolk Southern Corp.	Transportation	28,676	1,915	6.7	12.7	7.1	20.8
188	CSX Corp.	Transportation	29,163	1,807	3.7	15.5	4.5	20.7
189	Motorola Solutions	Technology Hardware and Equipment	17,463	4,132	23.7	20.5	0.1	20.6
190	NetApp	Technology Hardware and Equipment	14,021	2,097	15.0	3.9	15.9	20.4
191	Abbott Laboratories	Healthcare Equipment and Services	59,265	3,969	6.7	24.3	-3.1	20.4
192	Reynolds American	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	27,017	1,726	6.4	18.7	1.2	20.1
193	General Mills	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	31,171	2,011	6.5	16.0	3.3	19.9
194	Patterson Cos.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	4,348	261	6.0	20.5	-1.0	19.4
195	U.S. Bancorp	Banks	73,783	4,138	5.6	25.9	-5.4	19.2
196	ConAgra Foods	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	14,168	613	4.3	16.6	2.1	19.0
197	The Procter & Gamble Co.	Household and Personal Products	221,291	12,250	5.5	16.3	1.9	18.4
198	Bed Bath & Beyond	Retailing	17,244	2,112	12.2	13.3	4.5	18.4
199	Marriott International	Consumer Services	14,815	1,979	13.4	27.0	-6.8	18.3
200	Dollar General Corp.	Retailing	19,318	1,292	6.7	21.6	-2.7	18.3
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from December 2011 to December 2013. Includes the 486 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 12/31/2013. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 Billion.