Buyback Scorecard Soaring Buybacks, Sagging ReturnsBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 299 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from September 30, 2013, through September 30, 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	Intuitive Surgical	Healthcare Equipment and Services	17,013	1,100	6.5	13.3	7.6	21.9
52	Gilead Sciences	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	144,104	11,799	8.2	36.6	-11.0	21.6
53	Akamai Technologies	Software and Services	12,334	519	4.2	23.7	-1.9	21.3
54	Adobe Systems	Software and Services	41,011	1,500	3.7	30.3	-7.1	21.0
55	Accenture	Software and Services	61,580	5,012	8.1	18.6	2.0	21.0
56	VeriSign	Software and Services	8,008	1,602	20.0	18.8	1.7	20.8
57	Moody's Corp.	Diversified Financials	19,669	2,382	12.1	29.0	-6.5	20.6
58	The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.	Automobiles and Components	7,901	318	4.0	26.3	-4.6	20.5
59	Brown-Forman Corp.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	20,862	1,201	5.8	21.9	-1.9	19.6
60	The Clorox Co.	Household and Personal Products	14,918	667	4.5	18.9	0.4	19.3
61	The Sherwin-Williams Co.	Materials	20,765	2,532	12.2	23.4	-3.4	19.2
62	Assurant	Insurance	5,279	527	10.0	19.5	-0.3	19.2
63	Dollar General Corp.	Retailing	21,345	2,010	9.4	18.2	0.6	19.0
64	Verisk Analytics	Commercial and Professional Services	12,453	897	7.2	8.7	9.3	18.9
65	Fidelity National Information Services	Software and Services	18,889	9461	5.0	23.3	-3.8	18.5
66	Marathon Petroleum Corp.	Energy	24,840	3,356	13.5	23.5	-4.4	18.0
67	WestRock Co.	Materials	13,469	575	4.3	4.9	12.3	17.8
68	Stanley Black & Decker	Capital Goods	14,861	668	4.5	12.1	4.6	17.3
69	Ball Corp.	Materials	8,473	672	7.9	23.9	-5.4	17.3
70	CarMax	Retailing	12,156	1,427	11.7	13.2	3.6	17.2
71	NVIDIA Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	13,286	1,303	9.8	22.8	-4.6	17.1
72	McGraw Hill Financial	Diversified Financials	23,571	991	4.2	29.3	-9.4	17.1
73	Delta Air Lines	Transportation	35,690	3,032	8.5	48.1	-21.0	16.9
74	MasterCard	Software and Services	102,025	6,862	6.7	23.1	-5.2	16.7
75	American International Group	Insurance	73,519	12,780	17.4	14.4	1.7	16.4
76	XL Group	Insurance	10,980	1,244	11.3	12.5	3.3	16.1
77	Intercontinental Exchange	Diversified Financials	25,964	1,337	5.1	14.3	1.4	16.0
78	Tyson Foods	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	17,504	790	4.5	22.3	-5.2	15.9
79	Medtronic	Healthcare Equipment and Services	94,627	3,880	4.1	19.2	-2.9	15.8
80	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Banks	225,442	9,456	4.2	13.5	2.0	15.7
81	Express Scripts Holding Co.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	54,707	12,496	22.8	16.1	-0.5	15.5
82	Abbott Laboratories	Healthcare Equipment and Services	59,946	3,583	6.0	18.3	-2.5	15.4
83	CF Industries Holdings	Materials	10,464	2,789	26.7	25.6	-8.1	15.4
84	Northern Trust Corp.	Diversified Financials	15,871	948	6.0	15.4	-0.2	15.2
85	The TJX Cos.	Retailing	48,164	3,420	7.1	16.1	-1.0	14.9
86	Republic Services	Commercial and Professional Services	14,375	694	4.8	13.3	1.4	14.9
87	Huntington Bancshares	Banks	8,512	559	6.6	17.4	-2.4	14.7
88	Intuit	Software and Services	24,611	2,697	11.0	24.0	-7.7	14.5
89	Waters Corp.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	9,725	668	6.9	11.1	3.0	14.4
90	Henry Schein	Healthcare Equipment and Services	11,068	525	4.7	17.0	-2.2	14.4
91	Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings	Healthcare Equipment and Services	10,966	519	4.7	10.8	3.0	14.2
92	Nordstrom	Retailing	13,498	1,268	9.4	15.1	-1.1	13.9
93	Citrix Systems	Software and Services	11,133	2,289	20.6	0.9	12.9	13.9
94	Cardinal Health	Healthcare Equipment and Services	25,262	1,659	6.6	30.6	-12.8	13.9
95	Cisco Systems	Technology Hardware and Equipment	132,859	14,077	10.6	7.5	5.8	13.8
96	The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.	Diversified Financials	43,320	3,914	9.0	18.5	-4.0	13.7
97	Patterson Cos.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	4,358	283	6.5	10.5	2.8	13.6
98	General Mills	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	33,548	2,761	8.2	10.2	2.5	13.1
99	The Estée Lauder Cos.	Household and Personal Products	29,906	1,978	6.6	12.5	0.1	12.6
100	The Goldman Sachs Group	Diversified Financials	75,198	9,414	12.5	11.8	0.7	12.6
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from September 2013 to September 2015. Includes the 486 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 09/30/2015. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.