Buyback Scorecard As Stocks Edge Higher, Buyback Programs Get RiskierBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 276 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from March 31, 2013, through March 31, 2015. 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—276
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$48,969	$3,699	9.2%	20.8%	-3.9%	16.3%
	Median		$24,408	$1,949	7.7%	20.1%	-3.6%	16.5%
51	The Allstate Corp.	Insurance	29,637	4,406	14.9	27.1	3.3	31.3
52	NIKE	Consumer Durables and Apparel	86,679	4,725	5.5	34.2	-2.1	31.3
53	Starbucks Corp.	Consumer Services	71,006	1,105	1.6	28.6	2.1	31.3
54	Keurig Green Mountain	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	17,479	2,033	11.6	64.0	-20.0	31.2
55	Ball Corp.	Materials	9,713	763	7.9	24.6	5.0	30.8
56	Expedia	Retailing	11,928	767	6.4	18.7	10.1	30.7
57	Navient Corp.	Diversified Financials	8,162	1,068	13.1	36.1	-4.6	29.8
58	Ameriprise Financial	Diversified Financials	23,854	3,148	13.2	41.7	-8.5	29.7
59	NVIDIA Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	11,505	1,654	14.4	33.1	-2.7	29.5
60	Adobe Systems	Software and Services	36,990	1,800	4.9	37.4	-5.8	29.5
61	Red Hat	Software and Services	13,894	774	5.6	12.9	14.6	29.4
62	CR Bard	Healthcare Equipment and Services	12,438	1,471	11.8	31.2	-1.5	29.2
63	TE Connectivity	Technology Hardware and Equipment	29,094	1,116	3.8	33.6	-3.3	29.2
64	FedEx Corp.	Transportation	46,948	5,873	12.5	30.7	-1.2	29.2
65	Raytheon Co.	Capital Goods	33,575	1,241	3.7	42.4	-9.3	29.1
66	AutoZone	Retailing	21,640	2,310	10.7	29.7	-0.5	29.1
67	Newell Rubbermaid	Consumer Durables and Apparel	10,490	921	8.8	30.0	-0.8	29.0
68	Fidelity National Information Services	Software and Services	19,402	923	4.8	34.7	-4.2	28.9
69	Intuit	Software and Services	26,831	2,831	10.6	22.0	5.4	28.6
70	Nordstrom	Retailing	15,293	979	6.4	22.9	4.7	28.6
71	Visa	Software and Services	160,619	8,457	5.3	29.9	-1.0	28.6
72	3M Co.	Capital Goods	104,796	10,945	10.4	30.2	-1.2	28.5
73	Valero Energy Corp.	Energy	32,703	2,016	6.2	22.2	5.1	28.5
74	Wyndham Worldwide Corp.	Consumer Services	10,907	1,258	11.5	24.6	2.7	27.9
75	Automatic Data Processing	Software and Services	40,692	2,040	5.0	29.5	-1.4	27.7
76	Kohl's Corp.	Retailing	15,869	1,564	9.9	25.8	1.3	27.4
77	Amphenol Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	18,280	841	4.6	27.5	-0.2	27.3
78	Alliance Data Systems Corp.	Software and Services	18,606	1,009	5.4	35.5	-6.12	27.2
79	Moody's Corp.	Diversified Financials	20,973	2,388	11.4	39.8	-9.1	27.0
80	Autodesk	Software and Services	13,323	762	5.7	23.9	2.3	26.8
81	Time Warner	Media	70,129	6,695	9.5	30.4	-3.5	25.9
82	V.F. Corp.	Consumer Durables and Apparel	32,044	1,465	4.6	39.6	-9.9	25.7
83	Dollar Tree	Retailing	16,696	1,044	6.3	34.3	-6.4	25.7
84	The Interpublic Group of Cos.	Media	9,121	732	8.0	33.4	-5.8	25.7
85	Delphi Automotive	Automobiles and Components	23,213	1,599	6.9	38.4	-9.3	25.5
86	PPG Industries	Materials	30,685	1,810	5.9	30.6	-4.2	25.1
87	Henry Schein	Healthcare Equipment and Services	11,700	603	5.1	26.3	-1.1	24.9
88	Time Warner Cable	Media	42,101	2,108	5.0	29.6	-4.2	24.2
89	International Paper Co.	Materials	23,464	1,220	5.2	16.9	6.2	24.1
90	L-3 Communications Holdings	Capital Goods	10,415	1,601	15.4	30.7	-5.2	23.9
91	Tyson Foods	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	15,579	871	5.6	33.5	-7.2	23.9
92	Norfolk Southern Corp.	Transportation	33,618	1,327	3.9	25.9	-1.5	23.9
93	Gilead Sciences	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	145,533	8,850	6.1	55.8	-20.5	23.8
94	KLA-Tencor Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	9,482	744	7.8	25.8	-1.7	23.6
95	Aon	Insurance	26,938	3,302	12.3	30.0	-4.9	23.6
96	The Travelers Cos.	Insurance	34,750	6,106	17.6	18.8	3.9	23.4
97	Macy's	Retailing	22,108	3,495	15.8	29.6	-5.0	23.2
98	E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.	Materials	64,748	2,282	3.5	29.1	-4.6	23.2
99	Hewlett-Packard Co.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	56,635	5,440	9.6	42.7	-13.7	23.1
100	BlackRock	Diversified Financials	61,067	2,647	4.3	26.2	-2.6	22.9
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from March 2013 to March 2015. Includes the 492 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 03/31/2015. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.