| Buyback Scorecard The 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% | ||
| 51 | Tractor Supply Co. | Retailing | 11,486 | 599 | 5.2 | 12.3 | 6.5 | 19.6 |
| 52 | Anthem | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 36,404 | 4,515 | 12.4 | 26.6 | -5.7 | 19.3 |
| 53 | Verisk Analytics | Commercial and Professional Services | 13,026 | 799 | 6.1 | 7.5 | 10.8 | 19.2 |
| 54 | The Interpublic Group of Cos. | Media | 9,460 | 560 | 5.9 | 18.0 | 1.0 | 19.1 |
| 55 | Citrix Systems | Software and Services | 11,637 | 2,397 | 20.6 | 13.5 | 4.2 | 18.4 |
| 56 | Republic Services | Commercial and Professional Services | 15,275 | 805 | 5.3 | 16.8 | 1.2 | 18.2 |
| 57 | Delphi Automotive | Automobiles and Components | 24,012 | 2,183 | 9.1 | 21.9 | -3.0 | 18.2 |
| 58 | Henry Schein | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 13,118 | 600 | 4.6 | 16.6 | 1.4 | 18.2 |
| 59 | CR Bard | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 13,997 | 1,158 | 8.3 | 19.9 | -1.4 | 18.2 |
| 60 | Celgene Corp. | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 94,090 | 6,242 | 6.6 | 20.9 | -2.3 | 18.1 |
| 61 | The Priceline Group | Retailing | 63,472 | 3,839 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 8.4 | 18.1 |
| 62 | Leggett & Platt | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 5,719 | 321 | 5.6 | 26.1 | -6.5 | 17.9 |
| 63 | MasterCard | Software and Services | 110,155 | 6,904 | 6.3 | 15.6 | 1.7 | 17.5 |
| 64 | General Dynamics Corp. | Capital Goods | 43,423 | 6,615 | 15.2 | 29.2 | -9.1 | 17.5 |
| 65 | The Travelers Cos. | Insurance | 34,334 | 6,556 | 19.1 | 15.4 | 1.5 | 17.1 |
| 66 | Waste Management | Commercial and Professional Services | 23,829 | 1,200 | 5.0 | 13.8 | 2.9 | 17.1 |
| 67 | Apple | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 586,859 | 82,087 | 14.0 | 25.4 | -6.6 | 17.1 |
| 68 | Intuitive Surgical | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 20,407 | 1,184 | 5.8 | 15.5 | 1.3 | 17.0 |
| 69 | Brown-Forman Corp. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 20,905 | 1,224 | 5.9 | 20.8 | -3.9 | 16.2 |
| 70 | Texas Instruments | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 55,600 | 5,572 | 10.0 | 18.6 | -2.5 | 15.6 |
| 71 | Marathon Petroleum Corp. | Energy | 27,631 | 3,096 | 11.2 | 19.1 | -3.0 | 15.6 |
| 72 | Church & Dwight Co. | Household and Personal Products | 11,130 | 842 | 7.6 | 17.3 | -1.6 | 15.5 |
| 73 | Motorola Solutions | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 11,914 | 5,723 | 48.0 | 6.8 | 8.0 | 15.3 |
| 74 | Stanley Black & Decker | Capital Goods | 15,980 | 671 | 4.2 | 16.1 | -0.7 | 15.2 |
| 75 | KLA-Tencor Corp. | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 10,815 | 905 | 8.4 | 15.8 | -1.0 | 14.7 |
| 76 | Medtronic | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 108,161 | 4,490 | 4.2 | 17.5 | -2.4 | 14.7 |
| 77 | The TJX Cos. | Retailing | 47,476 | 3,479 | 7.3 | 9.6 | 4.5 | 14.6 |
| 78 | CVS Health Corp. | Food and Staples Retailing | 108,525 | 6,875 | 6.3 | 25.2 | -9.2 | 13.7 |
| 79 | XL Group | Insurance | 11,666 | 1,271 | 10.9 | 12.5 | 1.0 | 13.7 |
| 80 | Fidelity National Information Services | Software and Services | 19,779 | 842 | 4.3 | 17.7 | -3.4 | 13.7 |
| 81 | Kimberly-Clark Corp. | Household and Personal Products | 46,209 | 2,800 | 6.1 | 13.2 | -0.1 | 13.1 |
| 82 | Cardinal Health | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 29,368 | 1,659 | 5.6 | 20.0 | -6.0 | 12.8 |
| 83 | Ball Corp. | Materials | 9,915 | 533 | 5.4 | 19.3 | -5.6 | 12.7 |
| 84 | Waters Corp. | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 10,990 | 672 | 6.1 | 12.9 | -0.2 | 12.6 |
| 85 | The Sherwin-Williams Co. | Materials | 24,169 | 2,524 | 10.4 | 20.1 | -6.3 | 12.6 |
| 86 | Cisco Systems | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 137,841 | 11,436 | 8.3 | 15.2 | -2.4 | 12.4 |
| 87 | Coca-Cola Enterprises | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 11,175 | 1,526 | 13.7 | 12.3 | 0.0 | 12.4 |
| 88 | AmerisourceBergen Corp. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 21,326 | 2,712 | 12.7 | 22.4 | -8.4 | 12.2 |
| 89 | Phillips 66 | Energy | 43,635 | 3,794 | 8.7 | 16.7 | -3.9 | 12.2 |
| 90 | Huntington Bancshares | Banks | 8,811 | 588 | 6.7 | 14.0 | -1.7 | 12.0 |
| 91 | General Electric Co. | Capital Goods | 273,077 | 3,115 | 1.1 | 9.9 | 1.8 | 12.0 |
| 92 | Pepsico | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 145,569 | 10,012 | 6.9 | 12.8 | -0.8 | 11.9 |
| 93 | The Estée Lauder Cos. | Household and Personal Products | 32,515 | 2,073 | 6.4 | 9.7 | 2.0 | 11.9 |
| 94 | General Mills | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 34,212 | 2,592 | 7.6 | 10.9 | 0.9 | 11.9 |
| 95 | American International Group | Insurance | 76,658 | 15,593 | 20.3 | 11.8 | -0.1 | 11.7 |
| 96 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Banks | 243,034 | 10,376 | 4.3 | 12.0 | -0.3 | 11.6 |
| 97 | General Motors Co. | Automobiles and Components | 52,879 | 6,797 | 12.9 | -0.8 | 12.6 | 11.6 |
| 98 | Kellogg Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 25,612 | 1,421 | 5.5 | 9.8 | 1.4 | 11.3 |
| 99 | Sysco Corp. | Food and Staples Retailing | 23,145 | 1,587 | 6.9 | 13.6 | -2.1 | 11.3 |
| 100 | Expeditors International of Washington | Transportation | 8,407 | 1,181 | 14.0 | 6.9 | 4.0 | 11.2 |
* 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. | ||||||||
