Buyback Scorecard Have Stock Buybacks Lost Their Credibility?The S&P 500 as Stock Repurchasers Best & Worst CompaniesThe table below ranks the 305 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent or more than $1 billion of their shares from March 31, 2014 to March 31, 2016. The companies are ranked according to their return on investment from these repurchases. As calculated by Fortuna Advisors, a New York City-based consultancy that compiled the data for Institutional Investor, buyback ROI measures the overall rate of return of buybacks, based on the internal rate of return of the cash flows associated with them. Buyback strategy tracks the performance of the underlying stock in terms of annualized total shareholder return. Once Fortuna determines buyback ROI and buyback strategy, buyback effectiveness can then be calculated as simply the difference between the two, determined as compounded return.
How Industries Compare as Stock Repurchasers
| Industry | Market Cap ($ Millions) | Total Buyback ($ Millions) | $ Total Buyback as % Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI |
| Consumer Services | $337,966 | $29,112 | 8.6% | 13.5% | -2.2% | 11.0% |
| Consumer Durables and Apparel | $308,543 | $14,429 | 4.7% | 10.6% | -1.9% | 8.6% |
| Food, Beverage and Tobacco | $1,112,752 | $42,411 | 3.8% | 12.3% | -3.9% | 7.9% |
| Household and Personal Products | $397,056 | $16,148 | 4.1% | 8.8% | -1.3% | 7.3% |
| Telecommunication Services | $504,360 | $6,936 | 1.4% | 7.1% | -0.3% | 6.8% |
| Retailing | $1,068,974 | $62,629 | 5.9% | 12.6% | -6.0% | 5.9% |
| Food and Staples Retailing | $562,917 | $24,295 | 4.3% | 9.1% | -3.4% | 5.4% |
| Software and Services | $2,441,802 | $112,500 | 4.6% | 9.8% | -4.2% | 5.2% |
| Healthcare Equipment and Services | $902,697 | $52,982 | 5.9% | 12.3% | -6.3% | 5.2% |
| Commercial and Professional Services | $138,527 | $9,061 | 6.5% | 8.7% | -4.5% | 3.8% |
| Real Estate | $578,877 | $3,825 | 0.7% | 6.8% | -6.9% | -0.5% |
| Insurance | $480,382 | $56,939 | 11.9% | 5.5% | -7.0% | -1.9% |
| Capital Goods | $1,344,544 | $103,598 | 7.7% | 2.5% | -6.0% | -3.6% |
| Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | $1,634,150 | $91,852 | 5.6% | 5.6% | -10.9% | -5.9% |
| Transportation | $418,158 | $38,275 | 9.2% | 7.2% | -12.7% | -6.4% |
| Media | $539,500 | $57,040 | 10.6% | 1.1% | -8.4% | -7.5% |
| Technology Hardware and Equipment | $958,217 | $115,446 | 12.0% | 10.1% | -16.3% | -7.8% |
| Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | $498,740 | $47,746 | 9.6% | 1.3% | -9.4% | -8.2% |
| Banks | $949,967 | $57,034 | 6.0% | 0.3% | -8.8% | -8.6% |
| Utilities | $620,424 | $3,849 | 0.6% | 0.1% | -8.7% | -8.7% |
| Materials | $516,101 | $39,879 | 7.7% | -1.9% | -9.3% | -11.1% |
| Automobiles and Components | $175,001 | $16,381 | 9.4% | -6.5% | -5.5% | -11.6% |
| Energy | $1,211,112 | $44,401 | 3.7% | -8.0% | -7.8% | -15.2% |
| Diversified Financials | $967,935 | $59,943 | 6.2% | -5.0% | -13.5% | -17.8% |
| S&P 500 | $18,668,704 | $1,106,711 | 5.9% | 5.4% | -8.5% | -3.5% |
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. | ||||||
