This content is from: Home

Third-Quarter 2015 Corporate Buyback Scorecard; 1–50

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 $3,6999.2%20.8%-3.9%16.3%
 Median $24,408$1,9497.7%20.1%-3.6%16.5%
1Darden RestaurantsConsumer Services8,751 502 5.725.923.755.8
2Tesoro Corp. Energy 11,970 693 5.842.38.153.8
3Cigna Corp.Healthcare Equipment and Services 34,767 2,315 6.736.49.549.4
4O'Reilly Automotive Retailing 24,851 1,9627.940.56.149.2
5The Kroger Co.Food and Staples Retailing 35,112 2,1676.240.84.447.0
6HCA HoldingsHealthcare Equipment and Services 32,119 3,636 11.350.5

-3.3

45.67Expedia Retailing 16,703 7544.548.1-2.444.68Sealed Air Corp.Materials 9,650 8819.136.95.544.49HumanaHealthcare Equipment and Services26,5301,4755.643.20.944.410Starbucks Corp.Consumer Services 84,362 2,195 2.626.612.842.811Hasbro Consumer Durables and Apparel 9,010 551 6.132.57.141.912Aetna Healthcare Equipment and Services 38,150 1,9925.235.74.141.213Walgreens Boots Alliance Food and Staples Retailing 90,769 1,694 1.936.72.339.914Eli Lilly & Co. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 88,764 1,7972.031.15.838.815UnitedHealth Group Healthcare Equipment and Services 110,623 5,960 5.431.45.238.216Altera Corp.Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 15,148 9046.020.014.837.717NIKEConsumer Durables and Apparel 105,187 5,224 5.033.22.436.418Anthem Healthcare Equipment and Services 36,622 4,515 12.334.60.535.319Red Hat Software and Services 13,1896454.921.89.633.520Activision BlizzardSoftware and Services 22,519 5,830 25.931.11.733.321Celgene Corp. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 85,513 6,256 7.333.1-0.132.922Fiserv Software and Services 20,317 2,080 10.233.7-0.732.823Dr Pepper Snapple GroupFood, Beverage and Tobacco 15,090 9416.234.2-1.332.524AmerisourceBergen Corp.Healthcare Equipment and Services 20,537 2,61312.735.7-2.532.225EquifaxCommercial and Professional Services 11,491 4984.328.82.632.026Leggett & PlattConsumer Durables and Apparel 5,644 3636.427.53.331.727The Home DepotRetailing 148,301 14,143 9.525.05.131.428Valero Energy Corp.Energy 29,876 3,477 11.637.2-4.431.129The Chubb Corp.Insurance 27,847 2,497 9.021.57.831.030CVS Health Corp.Food and Staples Retailing 107,865 8,649 8.034.8-3.030.831Masco Corp.Capital Goods 8,661 3654.221.86.930.232Northrop Grumman Corp.Capital Goods 31,098 6,242 20.137.5-5.430.233NasdaqDiversified Financials 9,009 4885.428.5-0.128.434Ross Stores Retailing 19,779 1,3166.723.63.828.235The Walt Disney Co.Media 172,499 12,622 7.332.3-3.228.136Cintas Corp.Commercial and Professional Services 9,434 1,03711.035.6-5.628.037AutoZoneRetailing 22,192 2,371 10.728.7-0.627.938Mondelez International Food, Beverage and Tobacco 67,465 4,703 7.019.86.527.639Apple Technology Hardware and Equipment 629,010 80,253 12.835.7-6.826.540The Hartford Financial Services GroupInsurance 18,992 2,470 13.023.82.026.241Newell Rubbermaid Consumer Durables and Apparel 10,634 925 8.728.1-1.626.142Lowe's Cos. Retailing 63,767 8,200 12.9625.00.425.543Tractor Supply Co.Retailing 11,452 5895.121.33.325.244eBay Software and Services 29,773 4,768 16.014.99.025.245Southwest Airlines Co.Transportation 25,082 2,174 8.765.9-25.024.546CR Bard Healthcare Equipment and Services 13,824 1,237 8.929.2-3.724.447Visa Software and Services 169,476 7,116 4.225.2-0.824.348General Dynamics Corp.Capital Goods 44,520 6,111 13.733.4-6.924.249Avery Dennison Corp.Materials 5,173 4308.319.82.622.950Lockheed Martin Corp.Capital Goods 64,377 4,493 7.033.8-8.222.7Source: 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.