Buyback Scorecard U.S. Share Buybacks Rebound but Face Sharp CriticismBest & Worst ProgramsIndustry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 284 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from September 30, 2012, through September 30, 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—284
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$46,507	$3,389	8.8%	25.9%	-2.3%	22.5%
	Median		$21,933	$1,624	7.4%	25.3%	-2.5%	21.8%
251	Kellogg Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	22,184	1,234	5.6	16.9	-9.5	5.8
252	Quest Diagnostics	Healthcare Equipment and Services	8,763	1,169	13.3	2.8	2.7	5.6
253	AT&T	Telecommunication Services	182,755	19,023	10.4	2.8	2.5	5.4
254	Pfizer	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	187,499	15,505	8.3	15.4	-8.7	5.3
255	Waters Corp.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	8,323	624	7.5	14.1	-7.9	5.1
256	Citigroup	Banks	157,106	2,647	1.7	30.9	-19.8	4.9
257	Wal-Mart Stores	Food and Staples Retailing	246,426	8,931	3.6	4.2	0.5	4.8
258	Urban Outfitters	Retailing	4,930	500	10.1	4.5	-0.8	3.7
259	AFLAC	Insurance	26,390	1,616	6.1	18.6	-13.0	3.2
260	McCormick & Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	8,686	390	4.5	8.2	-4.7	3.1
261	International Business Machines Corp.	Software and Services	189,373	30,394	16.0	0.3	2.7	3.0
262	The Hershey Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	21,169	861	4.1	15.9	-11.4	2.7
263	FMC Corp.	Materials	7,620	372	4.9	10.2	-6.9	2.7
264	PetSmart	Retailing	6,962	769	11.0	1.5	0.7	2.2
265	CA Technologies	Software and Services	12,435	706	5.7	8.7	-6.1	2.0
266	McDonald's Corp.	Consumer Services	93,097	4,246	4.6	6.3	-4.2	1.8
267	Ralph Lauren Corp.	Consumer Durables and Apparel	14,487	1,040	7.2	5.3	-3.5	1.7
268	Denbury Resources	Energy	5,239	741	14.1	4.1	-2.4	1.6
269	Darden Restaurants	Consumer Services	6,823	501	7.3	-1.1	2.7	1.5
270	The Boeing Co.	Capital Goods	91,792	6,801	7.4	34.8	-24.8	1.3
271	W.W. Grainger	Capital Goods	17,212	800	4.6	12.0	-9.5	1.3
272	Deere & Co.	Capital Goods	29,387	4,263	14.5	7.1	-5.8	0.9
273	Philip Morris International	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	130,282	10,981	8.4	0.8	0.1	0.9
274	eBay	Software and Services	70,290	5,075	7.2	7.9	-8.5	-1.3
275	The Mosaic Co.	Materials	16,638	2,508	15.1	-8.3	6.3	-2.5
276	Target Corp.	Retailing	39,721	2,106	5.3	0.9	-3.6	-2.7
277	Xilinx	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	11,370	570	5.0	17.3	-18.9	-4.8
278	Bed Bath & Beyond	Retailing	13,295	3,248	24.4	-1.1	-4.2	-5.2
279	Staples	Retailing	7,795	508	6.5	2.0	-7.7	-5.9
280	Fossil Group	Consumer Durables and Apparel	4,968	969	19.5	12.2	-17.6	-7.5
281	Mattel	Consumer Durables and Apparel	10,355	649	6.3	4.6	-17.8	-14.0
282	Teradata Corp.	Software and Services	6,498	902	13.9	-23.0	8.0	-16.8
283	Whole Foods Market	Food and Staples Retailing	13,767	703	5.1	-8.5	-24.7	-31.1
284	Coach	Consumer Durables and Apparel	9,811	750	7.6	-18.8	-15.6	-31.4
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from September 2012 to September 2014. Includes the 491 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 09/30/2014. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.