Buyback Scorecard The Risk in No-Risk Stock BuybacksThe S&P 500 as Stock Repurchasers Best & Worst Companies

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 Industries Compare as Stock Repurchasers

Industry	Market Cap ($ Millions)	Total Buyback ($ Millions)	$ Total Buyback as % Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
Consumer Durables and Apparel	296,366	13,193	4.5	13.0	3.7	17.2
Consumer Services	337,314	22,383	6.6	16.0	1.0	17.2
Healthcare Equipment and Services	897,080	53,130	5.9	19.7	-3.7	15.3
Real Estate	527,036	3,118	0.6	13.6	0.9	14.7
Retailing	1,067,254	61,148	5.7	14.4	-0.8	13.5
Food and Staples Retailing	543,624	20,274	3.7	12.1	0.9	13.0
Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	405,831	28,891	7.1	19.3	-6.0	12.1
Food, Beverage and Tobacco	1,077,518	47,936	4.4	12.1	-2.4	9.4
Software and Services	2,427,642	117,569	4.8	12.5	-3.4	8.6
Insurance	468,972	53,013	11.3	9.4	-0.9	8.5
Technology Hardware and Equipment	1,025,484	150,036	14.6	15.6	-6.7	7.9
Commercial and Professional Services	135,369	9,245	6.8	10.9	-3.7	6.8
Banks	1,101,222	53,549	4.9	10.6	-4.4	5.7
Household and Personal Products	382,020	18,612	4.9	5.3	-1.1	4.2
Transportation	370,244	30,115	8.1	14.3	-9.0	4.0
Automobiles and Components	185,578	15,571	8.4	0.6	2.2	2.9
Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	1,803,215	76,380	4.2	13.3	-9.4	2.7
Capital Goods	1,276,728	101,279	7.9	6.8	-4.8	1.6
Media	580,514	59,077	10.2	6.0	-6.7	-1.1
Telecommunication Services	438,389	8,489	1.9	0.7	-2.4	-1.6
Diversified Financials	1,007,375	57,668	5.7	5.0	-6.5	-1.8
Materials	515,843	42,005	8.1	4.8	-7.9	-3.4
Energy	1,183,364	56,076	4.7	-3.0	-7.2	-9.9
Utilities	546,403	3,707	0.7	-2.1	-15.3	-17.0
S&P 500	18,600,386	1,102,466	5.9	10.7	-4.9	5.3
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from December 2013 to December 2015. Includes the 485 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 12/31/2015.