| 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% | ||
| 201 | Kohl’s Corp. | Retailing | 9,007 | 1,761 | 19.6 | 6.6 | -9.2 | -3.2 |
| 202 | Invesco | Diversified Financials | 13,389 | 604 | 4.5 | 8.4 | -10.9 | -3.4 |
| 203 | CSX Corp. | Transportation | 26,463 | 1,192 | 4.5 | 10.4 | -12.5 | -3.4 |
| 204 | Seagate Technology Public Co. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 13,297 | 3,800 | 28.6 | 11.2 | -13.1 | -3.4 |
| 205 | Xylem | Capital Goods | 5,962 | 291 | 4.9 | 14.1 | -15.8 | -3.9 |
| 206 | Johnson Controls | Automobiles and Components | 27,052 | 2,611 | 9.7 | 6.3 | -9.7 | -4.0 |
| 207 | Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 25,241 | 2,977 | 11.8 | 14.4 | -16.2 | -4.1 |
| 208 | Verizon Communications | Telecommunication Services | 176,898 | 5,134 | 2.9 | 1.7 | -6.0 | -4.4 |
| 209 | CA | Software and Services | 12,048 | 637 | 5.3 | 1.0 | -5.4 | -4.5 |
| 210 | Eastman Chemical Co. | Materials | 9,622 | 593 | 6.2 | -0.3 | -4.7 | -4.9 |
| 211 | The Procter & Gamble Co. | Household and Personal Products | 195,184 | 8,609 | 4.4 | 0.1 | -5.0 | -5.0 |
| 212 | Autodesk | Software and Services | 9,984 | 836 | 8.4 | 16.6 | -18.5 | -5.0 |
| 213 | Symantec Corp. | Software and Services | 13,224 | 1,000 | 7.6 | -5.0 | 0.0 | -5.0 |
| 214 | Alliance Data Systems Corp. | Software and Services | 15,910 | 1,143 | 7.2 | 16.8 | -18.7 | -5.1 |
| 215 | Cameron International Corp. | Energy | 11,689 | 2,960 | 25.3 | -3.8 | -1.5 | -5.2 |
| 216 | Baker Hughes | Energy | 22,683 | 950 | 4.2 | 8.7 | -12.9 | -5.3 |
| 217 | EMC Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 46,501 | 6,082 | 13.1 | 0.3 | -5.7 | -5.5 |
| 218 | Discover Financial Services | Diversified Financials | 22,632 | 3,190 | 14.1 | 6.5 | -11.6 | -5.9 |
| 219 | Agilent Technologies | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 11,377 | 467 | 4.1 | 6.4 | -11.6 | -6.0 |
| 220 | Bed Bath & Beyond | Retailing | 9,670 | 3,533 | 36.5 | -7.7 | 1.2 | -6.6 |
| 221 | Intel Corp. | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 143,316 | 14,557 | 10.2 | 15.7 | -19.3 | -6.6 |
| 222 | Union Pacific Corp. | Transportation | 76,713 | 6,806 | 8.9 | 9.6 | -14.9 | -6.8 |
| 223 | The Hershey Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 20,157 | 1,144 | 5.7 | 1.0 | -8.3 | -7.4 |
| 224 | FLIR Systems | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 3,926 | 262 | 6.7 | -1.5 | -6.1 | -7.5 |
| 225 | Precision Castparts Corp. | Capital Goods | 31,585 | 2,072 | 6.6 | -2.4 | -5.2 | -7.5 |
| 226 | T. Rowe Price Group | Diversified Financials | 17,807 | 1,236 | 6.9 | 3.6 | -11.0 | -7.8 |
| 227 | Wal-Mart Stores | Food and Staples Retailing | 207,873 | 3,612 | 1.7 | -2.2 | -6.1 | -8.2 |
| 228 | International Paper Co. | Materials | 15,786 | 1,270 | 8.0 | 0.5 | -8.7 | -8.2 |
| 229 | International Business Machines Corp. | Software and Services | 142,002 | 21,565 | 15.2 | -7.5 | -0.9 | -8.4 |
| 230 | W.W. Grainger | Capital Goods | 14,185 | 1,861 | 13.1 | -5.5 | -3.5 | -8.8 |
| 231 | The ADT Corp. | Commercial and Professional Services | 5,081 | 1,708 | 33.6 | -9.2 | 0.0 | -9.2 |
| 232 | The Mosaic Co. | Materials | 11,023 | 3,471 | 31.5 | -3.9 | -5.7 | -9.4 |
| 233 | CenturyLink | Telecommunication Services | 14,142 | 1,525 | 10.8 | -4.1 | -5.9 | -9.8 |
| 234 | E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. | Materials | 43,613 | 1,343 | 3.1 | 1.6 | -11.2 | -9.8 |
| 235 | Ford Motor Co. | Automobiles and Components | 54,805 | 2,142 | 3.9 | -4.9 | -5.3 | -9.9 |
| 236 | Xerox Corp. | Software and Services | 10,399 | 2,897 | 27.9 | 4.9 | -14.2 | -10.0 |
| 237 | American Express Co. | Diversified Financials | 74,225 | 8,502 | 11.5 | 2.3 | -12.3 | -10.2 |
| 238 | Cummins | Capital Goods | 19,289 | 1,412 | 7.3 | 2.1 | -12.1 | -10.3 |
| 239 | General Motors Co. | Automobiles and Components | 47,179 | 6,165 | 13.1 | -5.0 | -5.7 | -10.4 |
| 240 | Affiliated Managers Group | Diversified Financials | 9,282 | 570 | 6.1 | 5.2 | -14.9 | -10.5 |
| 241 | Schlumberger | Energy | 87,273 | 5,504 | 6.3 | -0.1 | -10.5 | -10.5 |
| 242 | Harley-Davidson | Automobiles and Components | 11,273 | 1,687 | 15.0 | -0.7 | -10.5 | -11.1 |
| 243 | Tyco International | Commercial and Professional Services | 14,104 | 2,250 | 16.0 | 4.9 | -15.5 | -11.4 |
| 244 | Urban Outfitters | Retailing | 3,642 | 877 | 24.1 | -11.5 | -0.1 | -11.6 |
| 245 | HP | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 46,053 | 5,611 | 12.2 | 10.6 | -20.4 | -11.9 |
| 246 | Duke Energy Corp. | Utilities | 49,518 | 1,500 | 3.0 | 7.5 | -18.1 | -12.0 |
| 247 | The AES Corp. | Utilities | 6,685 | 975 | 14.6 | -1.1 | -11.1 | -12.0 |
| 248 | Praxair | Materials | 29,180 | 1,698 | 5.8 | -1.6 | -10.6 | -12.0 |
| 249 | Parker-Hannifin Corp. | Capital Goods | 13,250 | 1,860 | 14.0 | 4.6 | -16.6 | -12.7 |
| 250 | Western Digital Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 18,370 | 1,696 | 9.2 | 12.3 | -22.4 | -12.9 |
| 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.. | ||||||||
