Buyback Scorecard
Stock Buyback
ROI Edges into the Black, Barely
Best & Worst Companies
Industry Comparisons
The 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 June 30, 2014 to June 30, 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 | $45,780 | $3,582 | 10.6% | 5.1% | -3.3% | 1.7% | ||
| Median | $20,113 | $1,700 | 7.7% | 5.4% | -2.2% | 1.8% | ||
| 101 | Comcast Corp. | Media | 158,229 | 11,886 | 7.5 | 11.8 | -1.9 | 9.6 |
| 102 | FedEx Corp. | Transportation | 40,741 | 3,976 | 9.8 | 8.4 | 0.8 | 9.3 |
| 103 | MasterCard | Software and Services | 96,752 | 5,896 | 6.1 | 14.2 | -4.5 | 9.0 |
| 104 | HCA Holdings | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 30,115 | 5,255 | 17.4 | 22.3 | -10.9 | 8.9 |
| 105 | Monster Beverage Corp. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 32,631 | 2,818 | 8.6 | 45.4 | -25.2 | 8.8 |
| 106 | E*TRADE Financial Corp. | Diversified Financials | 6,546 | 502 | 7.7 | 9.8 | -1.2 | 8.6 |
| 107 | Colgate-Palmolive Co. | Household and Personal Products | 65,369 | 2,817 | 4.3 | 5.4 | 2.9 | 8.4 |
| 108 | Analog Devices | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 17,408 | 783 | 4.5 | 7.0 | 1.3 | 8.4 |
| 109 | Automatic Data Processing | Software and Services | 41,850 | 2,713 | 6.5 | 16.6 | -7.1 | 8.3 |
| 110 | JB Hunt Transport Services | Transportation | 9,117 | 461 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 8.1 |
| 111 | Ecolab | Materials | 34,786 | 1,485 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 8.1 |
| 112 | Cisco Systems | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 144,302 | 9,292 | 6.4 | 11.9 | -3.6 | 7.9 |
| 113 | The Western Union Co. | Software and Services | 9,420 | 1,025 | 10.9 | 13.1 | -4.7 | 7.8 |
| 114 | Corning | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 22,023 | 5,150 | 23.4 | -0.5 | 8.1 | 7.6 |
| 115 | Lam Research Corp. | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 13,416 | 732 | 5.5 | 17.5 | -8.6 | 7.4 |
| 116 | The Priceline Group | Retailing | 61,970 | 4,267 | 6.9 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 7.3 |
| 117 | Eli Lilly and Co. | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 83,102 | 1,650 | 2.0 | 15.5 | -7.1 | 7.3 |
| 118 | Walgreens Boots Alliance | Food and Staples Retailing | 89,952 | 2,878 | 3.2 | 9.4 | -2.1 | 7.2 |
| 119 | BlackRock | Diversified Financials | 56,577 | 2,684 | 4.7 | 9.8 | -2.4 | 7.1 |
| 120 | The Dow Chemical Co. | Materials | 55,963 | 3,259 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 1.8 | 7.0 |
| 121 | Expeditors International of Washington | Transportation | 8,928 | 989 | 11.1 | 7.8 | -0.8 | 6.9 |
| 122 | Xilinx | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 11,684 | 1,106 | 9.5 | 0.2 | 6.5 | 6.7 |
| 123 | Jacobs Engineering Group | Capital Goods | 6,073 | 603 | 9.9 | -9.0 | 17.1 | 6.5 |
| 124 | United Parcel Service | Transportation | 95,081 | 5,347 | 5.6 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 6.5 |
| 125 | Torchmark Corp. | Insurance | 7,459 | 637 | 8.5 | 5.4 | 0.8 | 6.3 |
| 126 | The Allstate Corp. | Insurance | 26,187 | 4,756 | 18.2 | 9.8 | -3.5 | 6.0 |
| 127 | DaVita HealthCare Partners | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 15,967 | 826 | 5.2 | 4.3 | 1.6 | 5.9 |
| 128 | Phillips 66 | Energy | 41,700 | 3,171 | 7.6 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 5.9 |
| 129 | Rockwell Automation | Capital Goods | 14,956 | 1,113 | 7.4 | -1.2 | 7.1 | 5.7 |
| 130 | PPG Industries | Materials | 27,711 | 1,351 | 4.9 | 6.4 | -0.7 | 5.6 |
| 131 | Rockwell Collins | Capital Goods | 11,085 | 691 | 6.2 | 8.1 | -2.3 | 5.6 |
| 132 | Autodesk | Software and Services | 12,163 | 897 | 7.4 | 6.8 | -1.2 | 5.5 |
| 133 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Banks | 227,195 | 13,151 | 5.8 | 8.3 | -3.1 | 4.9 |
| 134 | International Business Machines Corp. | Software and Services | 145,703 | 5,378 | 3.7 | -8.0 | 13.8 | 4.8 |
| 135 | Cardinal Health | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 25,417 | 1,337 | 5.3 | 10.2 | -5.2 | 4.5 |
| 136 | CVS Health Corp. | Food and Staples Retailing | 102,827 | 9,761 | 9.5 | 16.5 | -10.5 | 4.3 |
| 137 | SunTrust Banks | Banks | 20,586 | 1,339 | 6.5 | 4.8 | -0.5 | 4.3 |
| 138 | The Procter & Gamble Co. | Household and Personal Products | 225,379 | 7,257 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 4.2 |
| 139 | General Dynamics Corp. | Capital Goods | 42,558 | 5,113 | 12.0 | 13.0 | -7.9 | 4.1 |
| 140 | CBS Corp. | Media | 24,804 | 3,690 | 14.9 | -3.4 | 7.7 | 4.0 |
| 141 | Unum Group | Insurance | 7,558 | 730 | 9.7 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 3.5 |
| 142 | Northern Trust Corp. | Diversified Financials | 15,118 | 1,021 | 6.8 | 8.5 | -4.8 | 3.3 |
| 143 | The Macerich Co. | Real Estate | 12,680 | 1,200 | 9.5 | 16.2 | -11.2 | 3.1 |
| 144 | The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. | Automobiles and Components | 6,824 | 501 | 7.3 | 5.8 | -2.6 | 3.0 |
| 145 | FLIR Systems | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 4,260 | 249 | 5.8 | -4.3 | 7.4 | 2.8 |
| 146 | Eaton Corp. | Capital Goods | 27,356 | 1,528 | 5.6 | -5.9 | 9.2 | 2.7 |
| 147 | Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide | Consumer Services | 12,464 | 1,732 | 13.9 | 4.0 | -1.2 | 2.7 |
| 148 | Loews Corp. | Insurance | 13,930 | 1,791 | 12.9 | -4.1 | 6.9 | 2.5 |
| 149 | W.W. Grainger | Capital Goods | 13,935 | 2,102 | 15.1 | -3.7 | 6.3 | 2.4 |
| 150 | Anthem | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 34,536 | 2,437 | 7.1 | 17.2 | -12.7 | 2.3 |
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from June 2014 to June 2016. Includes the 487 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 6/30/2016. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion. | ||||||||
