Buyback Scorecard Soaring Buybacks, Sagging ReturnsBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 299 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from September 30, 2013, through September 30, 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—299
	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%
201	Kohl's Corp.	Retailing	9,007	1,761	19.6	6.6	-9.2	-3.2
202	Invesco	Diversified Financials	13,389	604	4.5	8.4	-10.9	-3.4
203	CSX Corp.	Transportation	26,463	1,192	4.5	10.4	-12.5	-3.4
204	Seagate Technology Public Co.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	13,297	3,800	28.6	11.2	-13.1	-3.4
205	Xylem	Capital Goods	5,962	291	4.9	14.1	-15.8	-3.9
206	Johnson Controls	Automobiles and Components	27,052	2,611	9.7	6.3	-9.7	-4.0
207	Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	25,241	2,977	11.8	14.4	-16.2	-4.1
208	Verizon Communications	Telecommunication Services	176,898	5,134	2.9	1.7	-6.0	-4.4
209	CA	Software and Services	12,048	637	5.3	1.0	-5.4	-4.5
210	Eastman Chemical Co.	Materials	9,622	593	6.2	-0.3	-4.7	-4.9
211	The Procter & Gamble Co.	Household and Personal Products	195,184	8,609	4.4	0.1	-5.0	-5.0
212	Autodesk	Software and Services	9,984	836	8.4	16.6	-18.5	-5.0
213	Symantec Corp.	Software and Services	13,224	1,000	7.6	-5.0	0.0	-5.0
214	Alliance Data Systems Corp.	Software and Services	15,910	1,143	7.2	16.8	-18.7	-5.1
215	Cameron International Corp.	Energy	11,689	2,960	25.3	-3.8	-1.5	-5.2
216	Baker Hughes	Energy	22,683	950	4.2	8.7	-12.9	-5.3
217	EMC Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	46,501	6,082	13.1	0.3	-5.7	-5.5
218	Discover Financial Services	Diversified Financials	22,632	3,190	14.1	6.5	-11.6	-5.9
219	Agilent Technologies	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	11,377	467	4.1	6.4	-11.6	-6.0
220	Bed Bath & Beyond	Retailing	9,670	3,533	36.5	-7.7	1.2	-6.6
221	Intel Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	143,316	14,557	10.2	15.7	-19.3	-6.6
222	Union Pacific Corp.	Transportation	76,713	6,806	8.9	9.6	-14.9	-6.8
223	The Hershey Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	20,157	1,144	5.7	1.0	-8.3	-7.4
224	FLIR Systems	Technology Hardware and Equipment	3,926	262	6.7	-1.5	-6.1	-7.5
225	Precision Castparts Corp.	Capital Goods	31,585	2,072	6.6	-2.4	-5.2	-7.5
226	T. Rowe Price Group	Diversified Financials	17,807	1,236	6.9	3.6	-11.0	-7.8
227	Wal-Mart Stores	Food and Staples Retailing	207,873	3,612	1.7	-2.2	-6.1	-8.2
228	International Paper Co.	Materials	15,786	1,270	8.0	0.5	-8.7	-8.2
229	International Business Machines Corp.	Software and Services	142,002	21,565	15.2	-7.5	-0.9	-8.4
230	W.W. Grainger	Capital Goods	14,185	1,861	13.1	-5.5	-3.5	-8.8
231	The ADT Corp.	Commercial and Professional Services	5,081	1,708	33.6	-9.2	0.0	-9.2
232	The Mosaic Co.	Materials	11,023	3,471	31.5	-3.9	-5.7	-9.4
233	CenturyLink	Telecommunication Services	14,142	1,525	10.8	-4.1	-5.9	-9.8
234	E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.	Materials	43,613	1,343	3.1	1.6	-11.2	-9.8
235	Ford Motor Co.	Automobiles and Components	54,805	2,142	3.9	-4.9	-5.3	-9.9
236	Xerox Corp.	Software and Services	10,399	2,897	27.9	4.9	-14.2	-10.0
237	American Express Co.	Diversified Financials	74,225	8,502	11.5	2.3	-12.3	-10.2
238	Cummins	Capital Goods	19,289	1,412	7.3	2.1	-12.1	-10.3
239	General Motors Co.	Automobiles and Components	47,179	6,165	13.1	-5.0	-5.7	-10.4
240	Affiliated Managers Group	Diversified Financials	9,282	570	6.1	5.2	-14.9	-10.5
241	Schlumberger	Energy	87,273	5,504	6.3	-0.1	-10.5	-10.5
242	Harley-Davidson	Automobiles and Components	11,273	1,687	15.0	-0.7	-10.5	-11.1
243	Tyco International	Commercial and Professional Services	14,104	2,250	16.0	4.9	-15.5	-11.4
244	Urban Outfitters	Retailing	3,642	877	24.1	-11.5	-0.1	-11.6
245	HP	Technology Hardware and Equipment	46,053	5,611	12.2	10.6	-20.4	-11.9
246	Duke Energy Corp.	Utilities	49,518	1,500	3.0	7.5	-18.1	-12.0
247	The AES Corp.	Utilities	6,685	975	14.6	-1.1	-11.1	-12.0
248	Praxair	Materials	29,180	1,698	5.8	-1.6	-10.6	-12.0
249	Parker-Hannifin Corp.	Capital Goods	13,250	1,860	14.0	4.6	-16.6	-12.7
250	Western Digital Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	18,370	1,696	9.2	12.3	-22.4	-12.9
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from September 2013 to September 2015. Includes the 486 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 09/30/2015. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion..