Buyback Scorecard Have Stock Buybacks Lost Their Credibility?Best & Worst CompaniesIndustry ComparisonsThe table below ranks the 305 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent or more than $1 billion of their shares from March 31, 2014 to March 31, 2016. 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—300 | 301—305 | ||||||||
| Company | Industry | Market Capitalization | $ Total Buyback | $ Total Buyback / Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI | |
| Average | $45,750 | $3,542 | 10.2% | 3.0% | -8.6% | -5.3% | ||
| Median | $20,394 | $1,726 | 7.8% | 3.6% | -7.4% | -5.3% | ||
| 151 | Moody’s Corp. | Diversified Financials | 18,818 | 2,591 | 13.8 | 8.5 | -12.6 | -5.2 |
| 152 | Agilent Technologies | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 13,062 | 611 | 4.7 | -2.8 | -2.4 | -5.2 |
| 153 | Corning | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 22,974 | 4,513 | 19.6 | 1.6 | -6.8 | -5.3 |
| 154 | The Hershey Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 19,939 | 1,192 | 6.0 | -4.4 | -1.1 | -5.5 |
| 155 | PPG Industries | Materials | 29,742 | 1,451 | 4.9 | 3.1 | -8.4 | -5.5 |
| 156 | General Motors Co. | Automobiles and Components | 48,653 | 7,097 | 14.6 | -5.9 | 0.0 | -5.9 |
| 157 | Ingersoll-Rand | Capital Goods | 15,927 | 1,087 | 6.8 | -2.6 | -3.5 | -5.9 |
| 158 | Patterson Cos. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 4,495 | 248 | 5.5 | 4.9 | -10.4 | -6.0 |
| 159 | EMC Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 51,889 | 4,642 | 8.9 | 0.4 | -6.5 | -6.1 |
| 160 | Merck & Co. | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 146,839 | 11,635 | 7.9 | 0.4 | -6.6 | -6.2 |
| 161 | Amgen | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 112,761 | 2,681 | 2.4 | 12.9 | -17.2 | -6.5 |
| 162 | American International Group | Insurance | 61,283 | 18,212 | 29.7 | 5.5 | -11.7 | -6.9 |
| 163 | Delphi Automotive | Automobiles and Components | 20,718 | 2,388 | 11.5 | 5.0 | -11.5 | -7.1 |
| 164 | Symantec Corp. | Software and Services | 11,988 | 1,340 | 11.2 | 0.8 | -7.9 | -7.1 |
| 165 | Apple | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 604,304 | 70,783 | 11.7 | 16.6 | -20.4 | -7.2 |
| 166 | Deere & Co. | Capital Goods | 24,277 | 4,614 | 19.0 | -2.7 | -4.8 | -7.5 |
| 167 | FedEx Corp. | Transportation | 43,678 | 4,260 | 9.8 | 1.8 | -9.1 | -7.5 |
| 168 | CenturyLink | Telecommunication Services | 17,382 | 1,153 | 6.6 | 2.1 | -9.5 | -7.5 |
| 169 | Varian Medical Systems | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 7,642 | 984 | 12.9 | -2.9 | -4.9 | -7.6 |
| 170 | The Boeing Co. | Capital Goods | 84,098 | 13,753 | 16.4 | 0.1 | -7.8 | -7.7 |
| 171 | Oracle Corp. | Software and Services | 169,771 | 18,619 | 11.0 | 0.0 | -7.8 | -7.8 |
| 172 | Loews Corp. | Insurance | 12,970 | 1,902 | 14.7 | -8.8 | 0.8 | -8.1 |
| 173 | Huntington Bancshares | Banks | 7,610 | 452 | 5.9 | 0.7 | -8.9 | -8.2 |
| 174 | The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. | Diversified Financials | 39,629 | 4,226 | 10.7 | 6.7 | -14.1 | -8.4 |
| 175 | United Continental Holdings | Transportation | 21,519 | 2,937 | 13.6 | 8.7 | -15.8 | -8.5 |
| 176 | Exxon Mobil Corp. | Energy | 347,129 | 14,088 | 4.1 | -5.4 | -3.3 | -8.5 |
| 177 | Northern Trust Corp. | Diversified Financials | 14,906 | 955 | 6.4 | 2.5 | -10.9 | -8.7 |
| 178 | Michael Kors Holdings | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 10,219 | 1,448 | 14.2 | -26.1 | 23.3 | -8.8 |
| 179 | Rockwell Automation | Capital Goods | 14,949 | 1,124 | 7.5 | -5.4 | -3.7 | -8.9 |
| 180 | CBS Corp. | Media | 25,464 | 4,126 | 16.2 | -11.2 | 2.5 | -9.0 |
| 181 | American Airlines Group | Transportation | 24,730 | 6,405 | 25.9 | 9.6 | -16.9 | -9.0 |
| 182 | Marriott International | Consumer Services | 18,043 | 3,355 | 18.6 | 13.9 | -20.2 | -9.0 |
| 183 | Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide | Consumer Services | 14,183 | 2,007 | 14.2 | -3.4 | -6.0 | -9.2 |
| 184 | V.F. Corp. | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 27,422 | 1,653 | 6.0 | 3.4 | -12.2 | -9.3 |
| 185 | T. Rowe Price Group | Diversified Financials | 18,189 | 1,579 | 8.7 | -3.9 | -5.7 | -9.4 |
| 186 | Express Scripts Holding Co. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 43,467 | 12,484 | 28.7 | -2.0 | -7.9 | -9.8 |
| 187 | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | Materials | 36,838 | 10,229 | 27.8 | 0.8 | -10.5 | -9.8 |
| 188 | W.W. Grainger | Capital Goods | 14,373 | 1,947 | 13.5 | -6.6 | -3.9 | -10.3 |
| 189 | SunTrust Banks | Banks | 18,220 | 1,238 | 6.8 | -0.9 | -9.7 | -10.6 |
| 190 | Wyndham Worldwide Corp. | Consumer Services | 8,599 | 1,320 | 15.4 | 0.5 | -11.1 | -10.7 |
| 191 | Eaton Corp. | Capital Goods | 28,655 | 1,432 | 5.0 | -10.6 | -0.1 | -10.7 |
| 192 | Gilead Sciences | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 124,437 | 22,001 | 17.7 | 7.9 | -17.8 | -11.3 |
| 193 | Jacobs Engineering Group | Capital Goods | 5,336 | 573 | 10.7 | -20.4 | 10.8 | -11.8 |
| 194 | Ford Motor Co. | Automobiles and Components | 53,758 | 2,238 | 4.2 | -5.7 | -6.9 | -12.2 |
| 195 | Ametek | Capital Goods | 11,711 | 797 | 6.8 | -3.4 | -9.2 | -12.3 |
| 196 | Praxair | Materials | 32,649 | 1,333 | 4.1 | -8.2 | -4.5 | -12.4 |
| 197 | Parker-Hannifin Corp. | Capital Goods | 15,007 | 1,899 | 12.7 | -6.6 | -6.9 | -13.0 |
| 198 | Tyco International | Commercial and Professional Services | 15,588 | 2,000 | 12.8 | -7.8 | -6.0 | -13.3 |
| 199 | Emerson Electric Co. | Capital Goods | 34,973 | 3,508 | 10.0 | -11.6 | -2.2 | -13.5 |
| 200 | Textron | Capital Goods | 9,887 | 624 | 6.3 | -2.9 | -10.9 | -13.6 |
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from March 2014 to March 2016. Includes the 486 members of the Market Capitalization as of: 3/31/2016. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than | ||||||||
