Buyback Scorecard CFOs Share Their Stock Buyback Secrets Best and Worst Programs Industry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 270 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from March 31, 2012, through March 31, 2014. 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—270
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$46,040	$3,349	8.6%	22.3%	4.3%	27.5%
	Median		$21,057	$1,530	7.2%	22.4%	3.4%	27.4%
51	Unum Group	Insurance	9,161	739	8.1	24.0	13.8	41.1
52	KeyCorp.	Banks	12,665	855	6.8	31.0	7.4	40.7
53	The Kroger Co.	Food and Staples Retailing	22,174	1,525	6.9	31.1	7.0	40.2
54	General Dynamics Corp.	Capital Goods	37,478	2,686	7.2	24.1	12.7	39.8
55	Morgan Stanley	Diversified Financials	61,481	1,399	2.3	29.8	7.6	39.6
56	Applied Materials	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	24,724	1,261	5.1	25.4	11.3	39.6
57	Corning	Technology Hardware and Equipment	28,957	4,116	14.2	20.5	15.9	39.6
58	Viacom	Media	37,232	7,201	19.3	36.0	2.6	39.6
59	Safeway	Food and Staples Retailing	8,507	948	11.1	30.9	6.6	39.5
60	E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.	Materials	61,482	2,061	3.4	16.5	19.5	39.1
61	Comerica	Banks	9,432	643	6.8	28.9	7.8	38.9
62	Autodesk	Autodesk	11,173	858	7.7	18.1	17.0	38.2
63	Fifth Third Bancorp	Banks	19,481	2,069	10.6	29.6	6.6	38.2
64	Aetna	Healthcare Equipment and Services	27,192	2,957	10.9	26.5	8.9	37.8
65	Prudential Financial	Insurance	39,191	1,413	3.6	23.9	11.2	37.8
66	BlackRock	Diversified Financials	53,061	3,201	6.0	29.7	6.2	37.8
67	Twenty-First Century Fox	Media	71,470	5,881	8.2	39.7	-1.5	37.6
68	Dover Corp.	Capital Goods	13,901	1,457	10.5	23.8	11.2	37.6
69	FLIR Systems	Technology Hardware and Equipment	5,072	353	7.0	14.6	20.1	37.6
70	Comcast Corp.	Media	129,713	5,000	3.9	39.2	-1.2	37.5
71	O'Reilly Automotive	Retailing	15,788	2,246	14.2	29.4	6.1	37.3
72	Juniper Networks	Technology Hardware and Equipment	12,909	2,078	16.1	8.6	26.4	37.3
73	Fiserv	Software and Services	14,427	1,304	9.0	32.6	3.3	37.0
74	Avery Dennison Corp.	Materials	4,863	506	10.4	34.2	2.0	36.9
75	Amgen	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	93,123	4,064	4.4	36.5	0.1	36.6
76	The Interpublic Group of Cos.	Media	7,268	833	11.5	27.2	7.3	36.5
77	American Express Co.	Diversified Financials	95,397	8,685	9.1	32.0	3.3	36.4
78	Coca-Cola Enterprises	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	12,105	1,931	16.0	31.7	3.6	36.4
79	Texas Instruments	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	51,015	5,088	10.0	19.4	13.9	36.0
80	NVIDIA Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	9,926	1,487	15.0	8.4	25.4	35.9
81	Huntington Bancshares	Banks	8,385	410	4.9	29.2	5.1	35.7
82	CVS Caremark Corp.	Food and Staples Retailing	88,260	8,297	9.4	29.1	4.8	35.3
83	Johnson Controls	Automobiles and Components	31,422	1,618	5.1	24.1	8.9	35.1
84	Discover Financial Services	Diversified Financials	27,401	2.308	8.4	40.4	-3.8	35.0
85	Lowe's Cos.	Retailing	50,367	7,224	14.3	33.5	0.9	34.8
86	Honeywell International	Capital Goods	72,538	1,710	2.4	27.9	5.3	34.8
87	Capital Goods	Energy	50,108	4,935	9.8	24.0	8.6	34.8
88	Tractor Supply Co.	Retailing	9,798	487	5.0	31.6	2.3	34.6
89	Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide	Consumer Services	15,277	636	4.2	22.4	9.9	34.6
90	Cintas Corp.	Commercial and Professional Services	7,156	510	7.1	26.0	6.7	34.5
91	Macy's	Retailing	21,635	2,722	12.6	25.5	7.1	34.4
92	Xerox Corp.	Software and Services	13,390	1,973	14.7	19.2	12.8	34.4
93	PPG Industries	Materials	26,796	1,200	4.5	47.1	-8.7	34.4
94	Starbucks Corp.	Consumer Services	55,468	1,412	2.5	23.8	8.4	34.2
95	Marathon Petroleum Corp.	Energy	25,490	3,982	15.6	50.0	-10.7	34.0
96	Union Pacific Corp.	Transportation	85,215	3,903	4.6	29.0	3.8	33.8
97	Expedia	Retailing	9,386	643	6.8	51.6	-11.8	33.7
98	DIRECTV	Media	38,971	8,810	22.6	26.7	5.2	33.3
99	Nike	Consumer Durables and Apparel	65,402	3,206	4.9	21.4	9.7	33.3
100	Torchmark Corp.	Insurance	6,961	988	14.2	28.9	3.4	33.3
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from March 2012 to March 2014. Includes the 490 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 03/31/2014. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 Billion.