| Buyback ScorecardThe Risk in No-Risk Stock BuybacksBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons |
The table below ranks the 299 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent or more than $1 billion of their shares from December 31, 2013 to December 31, 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 the S&P 500 Stack Up as Stock Repurchasers 1—50 | 51—100 | 101—150 | 151—200 | 201—250 | 251—299 | ||||||||
| Company | Industry | Market Capitalization | $ Total Buyback | $ Total Buyback / Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI | |
| Average | $48,969 | $3,699 | 9.2% | 20.8% | -3.9% | 16.3% | ||
| Median | $24,408 | $1,949 | 7.7% | 20.1% | -3.6% | 16.5% | ||
| 201 | Nordstrom | Retailing | 9,158 | 1,802 | 19.7 | 5.7 | -10.9 | -5.8 |
| 202 | Comerica | Banks | 7,393 | 500 | 6.8 | 1.4 | -7.3 | -6.0 |
| 203 | JB Hunt Transport Services | Transportation | 8,407 | 436 | 5.2 | 1.4 | -7.3 | -6.0 |
| 204 | Varian Medical Systems | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 7,756 | 1,086 | 14.0 | 1.8 | -8.1 | -6.4 |
| 205 | The Hershey Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 19,353 | 1,159 | 6.0 | -1.3 | -5.3 | -6.5 |
| 206 | Ford Motor Co. | Automobiles and Components | 55,918 | 2,093 | 3.7 | -3.7 | -2.9 | -6.6 |
| 207 | F5 Networks | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 6,824 | 1,257 | 18.4 | 12.7 | -17.7 | -7.3 |
| 208 | Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide | Consumer Services | 11,687 | 2,007 | 17.2 | 2.8 | -10.3 | -7.8 |
| 209 | Rockwell Automation | Capital Goods | 13,523 | 1,102 | 8.1 | -0.7 | -7.3 | -8.0 |
| 210 | Eastman Chemical Co. | Materials | 10,032 | 523 | 5.2 | -3.2 | -5.3 | -8.3 |
| 211 | PulteGroup | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 6,222 | 696 | 11.2 | 3.9 | -11.9 | -8.4 |
| 212 | Johnson Controls | Automobiles and Components | 25,586 | 1,412 | 5.5 | -2.2 | -6.7 | -8.7 |
| 213 | Pitney Bowes | Commercial and Professional Services | 4,069 | 192 | 4.7 | 1.2 | -10.4 | -9.3 |
| 214 | Duke Energy Corp. | Utilities | 49,140 | 1,500 | 3.1 | 4.6 | -13.4 | -9.4 |
| 215 | Jacobs Engineering Group | Capital Goods | 5,163 | 543 | 10.5 | -16.8 | 8.6 | -9.6 |
| 216 | SanDisk Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 15,253 | 2,550 | 16.7 | 5.6 | -14.6 | -9.7 |
| 217 | Exxon Mobil Corp. | Energy | 324,501 | 17,222 | 5.3 | -4.2 | -6.1 | -10.0 |
| 218 | Twenty-First Century Fox | Media | 53,541 | 11,178 | 20.9 | -5.3 | -4.9 | -10.0 |
| 219 | Loews Corp. | Insurance | 13,607 | 1,887 | 13.9 | -11.2 | 1.3 | -10.0 |
| 220 | Target Corp. | Retailing | 44,732 | 3,438 | 7.7 | 11.3 | -19.2 | -10.1 |
| 221 | Deere & Co. | Capital Goods | 24,155 | 5,132 | 21.2 | -1.8 | -8.5 | -10.1 |
| 222 | Praxair | Materials | 29,168 | 1,587 | 5.4 | -4.4 | -6.3 | -10.5 |
| 223 | Invesco | Diversified Financials | 14,191 | 818 | 5.8 | 0.9 | -11.3 | -10.5 |
| 224 | Best Buy Co. | Retailing | 10,436 | 1,055 | 10.1 | -7.5 | -3.4 | -10.6 |
| 225 | Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 15,564 | 1,521 | 9.8 | 0.1 | -11.0 | -10.9 |
| 226 | FLIR Systems | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 3,877 | 262 | 6.8 | -0.6 | -10.6 | -11.1 |
| 227 | Occidental Petroleum Corp. | Energy | 51,636 | 3,093 | 6.0 | -8.3 | -3.3 | -11.3 |
| 228 | Applied Materials | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 21,454 | 1,950 | 9.1 | 1.9 | -13.1 | -11.50 |
| 229 | CenturyLink | Telecommunication Services | 13,813 | 1,469 | 10.6 | -2.4 | -9.5 | -11.7 |
| 230 | WestRock Co. | Materials | 11,617 | 616 | 5.3 | 1.9 | -14.2 | -12.5 |
| 231 | CSX Corp. | Transportation | 25,300 | 1,321 | 5.2 | 2.8 | -15.0 | -12.6 |
| 232 | HP | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 21,215 | 5,843 | 27.5 | 8.5 | -19.5 | -12.6 |
| 233 | Legg Mason | Diversified Financials | 4,226 | 630 | 14.9 | 6.5 | -17.9 | -12.6 |
| 234 | International Paper Co. | Materials | 15,629 | 1,199 | 7.7 | -2.2 | -11.1 | -13.1 |
| 235 | International Business Machines Corp. | Software and Services | 133,507 | 16,531 | 12.4 | -9.3 | -4.8 | -13.7 |
| 236 | American Express Co. | Diversified Financials | 68,454 | 8,909 | 13.0 | -4.7 | -9.6 | -13.8 |
| 237 | Schlumberger | Energy | 87,962 | 4,832 | 5.5 | -7.1 | -7.3 | -13.9 |
| 238 | Xerox Corp. | Software and Services | 10,762 | 2,373 | 22.1 | -1.3 | -13.2 | -14.3 |
| 239 | AbbVie | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 96,842 | 8,220 | 8.5 | 11.8 | -23.4 | -14.4 |
| 240 | Dover Corp. | Capital Goods | 9,501 | 1,201 | 12.6 | -7.3 | -7.7 | -14.4 |
| 241 | Yahoo! | Software and Services | 31,409 | 4,367 | 13.9 | -3.6 | -11.4 | -14.6 |
| 242 | Tyco International | Commercial and Professional Services | 13,482 | 2,000 | 14.8 | -1.3 | -13.5 | -14.7 |
| 243 | Monsanto Co. | Materials | 43,375 | 10,356 | 23.9 | -5.7 | -9.6 | -14.7 |
| 244 | Union Pacific Corp. | Transportation | 66,792 | 6,690 | 10.0 | 6.2 | -19.7 | -14.8 |
| 245 | NetApp | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 7,756 | 2,238 | 28.9 | -10.6 | -5.0 | -15.1 |
| 246 | CBS Corp. | Media | 22,223 | 5,625 | 25.3 | -9.8 | -6.3 | -15.5 |
| 247 | Chevron Corp. | Energy | 169,308 | 4,412 | 2.6 | -10.2 | -5.9 | -15.5 |
| 248 | Norfolk Southern Corp. | Transportation | 25,256 | 1,393 | 5.5 | 2.3 | -17.5 | -15.6 |
| 249 | Parker-Hannifin Corp. | Capital Goods | 13,187 | 1,899 | 14.4 | -4.8 | -12.0 | -16.2 |
| 250 | Bed Bath & Beyond | Retailing | 8,053 | 3,556 | 44.2 | -15.3 | -1.3 | -16.4 |
| * Company has yet to report latest quarter. 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. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion. | ||||||||