Buyback Scorecard As Stocks Edge Higher, Buyback Programs Get RiskierThe S&P 500 as Stock Repurchasers Industry 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.

The Best and Worst Corporate Stock Buyback Programs
Best
	Company	Industry	Market Cap ($ Millions)	Total Buyback (S Millions)	$ Total Buyback as % Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
1	Southwest Airlines Co.	Transportation	29,947	1,695	5.7	94.7	4.6	103.5
2	Darden Restaurants	Consumer Services	8,722	503	5.8	20.8	51.3	82.7
3	The Kroger Co.	Food and Staples Retailing	37,257	1,746	4.7	60.0	7.0	71.1
4	Edwards Lifesciences Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	15,318	791	5.2	23.7	31.1	62.1
5	AmerisourceBergen Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	24,963	1,270	5.1	48.6	4.6	55.5
6	Apple	Technology Hardware and Equipment	724,773	77,910	10.7	37.7	11.6	53.7
7	Anthem	Healthcare Equipment and Services	41,195	4,603	11.2	52.4	0.1	52.5
8	Humana	Healthcare Equipment and Services	26,637	1,391	5.2	50.3	1.3	52.3
9	Delta Air Lines	Transportation	37,059	1,775	4.8	79.3	-15.3	51.9
10	Biogen	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	99,063	1,246	1.3	56.2	-3.0	51.5
Worst
	Company	Industry	Market Cap ($ Millions)	Total Buyback (S Millions)	$ Total Buyback as % Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
1	National Oilwell Varco	Energy	20,493	2,109	10.3	-5.4	-60.1	-62.2
2	Noble Corp.	Energy	3,455	257	7.4	-26.9	-34.1	-51.8
3	FMC Technologies	Energy	8,566	368	4.3	-10.4	-27.9	-35.4
4	Jacobs Engineering Group	Capital Goods	5,794	333	5.7	-7.0	-27.0	-32.1
5	Apache Corp.	Energy	22,734	2,861	12.6	-9.7	-22.5	-30.0
6	Fluor Corp.	Capital Goods	8,427	$1,087	12.9	-4.4	-23.7	-27.0
7	Mattel	Consumer Durables and Apparel	7,729	638	8.3	-15.0	-14.0	-26.9
8	Cameron International Corp.	Energy	8,702	3,125	35.9	-14.7	-9.9	-23.1
9	Discovery Communications	Media	20,194	3,044	15.1	-6.6	-14.1	-19.8
10	Marathon Oil Corp.	Energy	17,629	1,500	8.57	-8.1	-12.4	-19.5
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.