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%
151	The Sherwin-Williams Co.	Materials	19,736	1,403	7.1	40.2	-10.9	24.9
152	UnitedHealth Group	Healthcare Equipment and Services	81,104	6,174	7.6	19.9	4.1	24.8
153	QUALCOMM	Technology Hardware and Equipment	133,359	7,828	5.9	12.5	10.8	24.7
154	Dun & Bradstreet Corp.	Commercial and Professional Services	3,677	1,026	27.9	25.6	7.9	24.7
155	KLA-Tencor Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	11,507	521	4.5	17.0	6.6	24.7
156	Microsoft Corp.	Software and Services	340,247	12,536	3.7	14.1	9.3	24.6
157	The Allstate Corp.	Insurance	25,297	3,553	14.0	35.0	-7.8	24.5
158	CA Technologies	Software and Services	13,872	1,000	7.2	17.1	5.6	23.7
159	CareFusion Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	8,381	857	10.2	27.3	-3.5	22.9
160	U.S. Bancorp	Banks	78,008	4,113	5.3	21.1	1.5	22.9
161	Franklin Resources	Diversified Financials	34,179	1,188	3.5	21.7	1.0	22.9
162	Mondelez International	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	58,769	1,261	2.1	19.8	2.4	22.7
163	F5 Networks	Technology Hardware and Equipment	7,219	650	9.0	-7.4	32.3	22.5
164	Kimberly-Clark Corp.	Household and Personal Products	41,750	2,503	6.0	26.4	-3.1	22.5
165	The Home Depot	Retailing	109,306	12,649	11.6	33.7	-8.5	22.3
166	Emerson Electric Co.	Capital Goods	46,959	2,174	4.6	17.2	4.3	22.3
167	Pfizer	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	205,020	17,399	8.5	24.9	-2.5	21.8
168	Caterpillar	Capital Goods	63,380	3,738	5.9	-4.7	27.7	21.8
169	Tenet Healthcare Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	4,177	500	12.0	42.6	-14.9	21.3
170	Varian Medical Systems	Healthcare Equipment and Services	8,697	916	10.5	10.0	10.2	21.2
171	Ball Corp.	Materials	7,708	971	12.6	17.1	3.3	21.0
172	United Parcel Service	Transportation	89,526	5,582	6.2	16.0	4.3	20.9
173	Accenture	Software and Services	50,468	5,354	10.6	21.1	-0.3	20.8
174	Discovery Communications	Media	28,399	2,209	7.8	34.9	-10.5	20.8
175	Motorola Solutions	Technology Hardware and Equipment	16,335	2,824	17.3	18.2	1.8	20.2
176	Oracle Corp.	Software and Services	182,413	21,261	11.7	16.4	3.2	20.1
177	Abbott Laboratories	Healthcare Equipment and Services	59,424	5,174	8.7	23.2	-3.4	19.1
178	Waters Corp.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	9,234	622	6.7	11.9	6.4	19.0
179	Capital One Financial Corp.	Diversified Financials	44,194	1,703	2.4	23.0	-3.5	18.8
180	General Electric Co.	Capital Goods	259,547	16,895	6.5	19.8	-1.0	18.5
181	Allergan	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	37,119	1,741	4.7	16.8	1.4	18.5
182	Monster Beverage Corp.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	11,590	795	6.9	13.1	4.7	18.4
4	Tesoro Corp.	Energy	6,627	561	8.5	41.5	-16.5	18.2
184	ConocoPhillips	Energy	86,256	3,199	3.7	13.7	3.6	17.7
185	Reynolds American	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	28,659	1,599	5.6	17.1	0.2	17.3
186	Monsanto Co.	Materials	59,719	1,992	3.3	20.3	-2.6	17.3
187	Praxair	Materials	38,432	1,324	3.4	11.1	5.4	17.1
188	International Paper Co.	Materials	20,132	900	4.5	23.4	-5.2	16.9
189	Schlumberger Limited	Energy	127,378	3,145	2.5	11.8	4.5	16.8
190	AFLAC	Insurance	28,670	1,342	4.7	19.6	-2.5	16.7
191	Joy Global	Capital Goods	5,808	336	5.8	-17.7	41.7	16.6
192	People's United Financial	Banks	4,445	628	14.1	11.7	4.3	16.5
193	Dr Pepper Snapple Group	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	10,812	865	8.0	18.1	-1.7	16.2
194	Fossil Group	Consumer Durables and Apparel	6,296	905	14.4	3.0	12.5	15.9
195	Airgas	Materials	7,878	600	7.6	16.6	6-0.9	15.6
196	The Gap	Retailing	17,907	2,217	12.4	37.3	-15.9	15.5
197	Colgate-Palmolive Co.	Household and Personal Products	59,464	3,454	5.8	19.5	-3.5	15.3
198	MeadWestvaco Corp.	Materials	6,295	431	6.8	20.4	-4.3	15.2
199	Murphy Oil Corp.	Energy	11,279	1,000	8.9	12.5	2.3	15.0
200	Patterson Cos.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	4,340	290	6.7	15.4	-1.0	14.3
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.