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%
51 CR Bard Healthcare Equipment and Services 14,840 1,070 7.2 17.4 -2.9 14.0
52 The Estée Lauder Cos. Household and Personal Products 34,760 1,753 5.0 14.6 -0.9 13.6
53 Cintas Corp. Commercial and Professional Services 9,711 1,261 13.0 22.7 -7.8 13.1
54 Verisk Analytics Commercial and Professional Services 13,429 827 6.2 7.4 5.3 13.1
55 Tractor Supply Co. Retailing 12,060 613 5.1 11.0 1.4 12.5
56 Church & Dwight Co. Household and Personal Products 11,823 782 6.6 16.7 -3.7 12.4
57 Foot Locker Retailing 8,778 654 7.5 27.1 -11.6 12.3
58 Newell Brands Consumer Durables and Apparel 11,873 501 4.2 14.6 -2.1 12.3
59 Red Hat Software and Services 13,607 798 5.9 10.6 1.4 12.2
60 Nielsen Holdings Commercial and Professional Services 19,057 1,200 6.3 6.4 5.2 12.0
61 Medtronic Healthcare Equipment and Services 105,078 4,750 4.5 15.9 -4.3 10.9
62 Eli Lilly and Co. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 75,990 1,795 2.4 19.8 -7.5 10.8
63 The Travelers Cos. Insurance 34,427 6,461 18.8 16.6 -5.0 10.7
64 General Mills Food, Beverage and Tobacco 37,655 2,106 5.6 11.8 -1.0 10.7
65 The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Automobiles and Components 8,813 434 4.9 9.8 0.6 10.4
66 The Interpublic Group of Cos. Media 9,229 569 6.2 14.9 -4.3 10.0
67 Philip Morris International Food, Beverage and Tobacco 152,193 2,640 1.7 11.7 -1.6 9.9
68 The Sherwin-Williams Co. Materials 26,247 2,268 8.6 17.7 -6.7 9.8
69 Xilinx Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 12,120 1,106 9.1 -0.2 9.6 9.3
70 Dollar General Corp. Retailing 24,522 1,531 6.2 14.7 -4.9 9.1
71 Walgreens Boots Alliance Food and Staples Retailing 90,874 2,641 2.9 14.8 -5.0 9.1
72 Delta Air Lines Transportation 37,777 3,950 10.5 21.6 -10.4 9.0
73 Verizon Communications Telecommunication Services 220,646 5,134 2.3 7.7 1.0 8.8
74 Motorola Solutions Technology Hardware and Equipment 13,224 5,730 43.3 3.9 4.5 8.6
75 Leggett & Platt Consumer Durables and Apparel 6,528 377 5.8 22.0 -11.2 8.4
76 Chubb Insurance 55,263 1,852 3.4 11.6 -3.1 8.1
77 Citrix Systems Software and Services 12,100 2,425 20.0 9.5 -1.3 8.1
78 The Coca-Cola Co. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 200,811 7,590 3.8 9.5 -1.3 8.1
79 Honeywell International Capital Goods 85,308 3,644 4.3 8.6 -0.7 7.8
80 Mondelez International Food, Beverage and Tobacco 62,472 6,041 9.7 10.9 -3.0 7.6
81 Pepsico Food, Beverage and Tobacco 149,753 9,382 6.3 13.5 -5.4 7.3
82 Waters Corp. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 10,719 675 6.3 7.3 -0.2 7.0
83 Anthem Healthcare Equipment and Services 36,325 3,252 9.0 23.6 -13.6 6.8
84 Texas Instruments Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 57,722 5,482 9.5 12.6 -5.3 6.6
85 Omnicom Group Media 19,941 1,976 9.9 4.0 2.5 6.5
86 Cardinal Health Healthcare Equipment and Services 26,989 1,620 6.0 10.1 -3.2 6.5
87 CVS Health Corp. Food and Staples Retailing 114,207 9,067 7.9 19.0 -10.6 6.4
88 Juniper Networks Technology Hardware and Equipment 9,760 2,594 26.6 -0.9 7.3 6.4
89 The Hartford Financial Services Group Insurance 18,279 2,745 15.0 11.9 -5.1 6.2
90 Intuit Software and Services 26,712 3,144 11.8 13.7 -6.9 5.9
91 Ball Corp. Materials 10,079 428 4.2 14.3 -7.6 5.6
92 CH Robinson Worldwide Transportation 10,633 458 4.3 14.9 -8.3 5.4
93 Duke Energy Corp. Utilities 55,572 1,500 2.7 8.8 -3.6 4.9
94 Applied Materials Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 23,949 2,850 11.9 1.6 3.2 4.9
95 Phillips 66 Energy 45,566 3,545 7.8 6.1 -1.2 4.8
96 3M Co. Capital Goods 100,946 10,409 10.3 10.3 -5.3 4.5
97 Thermo Fisher Scientific Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 56,107 1,500 2.7 6.7 -2.1 4.4
98 Marsh & McLennan Cos. Insurance 31,685 2,401 7.6 10.5 -5.7 4.3
99 Rockwell Collins Capital Goods 12,092 668 5.5 6.6 -2.4 4.0
100 Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 298,452 14,029 4.7 8.7 -4.4 3.9
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
current S&P 500 that were public for the full period.

Market Capitalization as of: 3/31/2016.

Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than
4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.