| 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% | ||
| 101 | Juniper Networks | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 9,884 | 3,566 | 36.1 | 14.3 | -1.5 | 12.6 |
| 102 | Torchmark Corp. | Insurance | 7,057 | 919 | 13.0 | 13.4 | -0.7 | 12.6 |
| 103 | Robert Half International | Commercial and Professional Services | 6,881 | 416 | 6.0 | 22.7 | -8.3 | 12.6 |
| 104 | F5 Networks | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 8,222 | 1,257 | 15.3 | 20.0 | -6.5 | 12.2 |
| 105 | V.F. Corp. | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 29,033 | 1,463 | 5.0 | 24.0 | -9.7 | 11.9 |
| 106 | GameStop Corp. | Retailing | 4,347 | 491 | 11.3 | -0.6 | 12.5 | 11.9 |
| 107 | Comcast Corp. | Media | 141,902 | 10,521 | 7.4 | 18.8 | -5.9 | 11.8 |
| 108 | The Priceline Group | Retailing | 62,711 | 3,018 | 4.8 | 15.2 | -3.1 | 11.7 |
| 109 | Delphi Automotive | Automobiles and Components | 21,622 | 2,074 | 9.6 | 19.2 | -6.4 | 11.6 |
| 110 | St. Jude Medical | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 17,775 | 1,200 | 6.8 | 19.7 | -6.8 | 11.6 |
| 111 | The PNC Financial Services Group | Banks | 45,813 | 2,775 | 6.1 | 14.8 | -3.1 | 11.2 |
| 112 | Wells Fargo & Co. | Banks | 263,598 | 17,515 | 6.6 | 16.6 | -4.8 | 11.0 |
| 113 | Coca-Cola Enterprises | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 11,076 | 1,644 | 14.8 | 15.6 | -4.0 | 11.0 |
| 114 | AbbVie | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 90,064 | 7,196 | 8.0 | 25.1 | -11.3 | 11.0 |
| 115 | The Western Union Co. | Software and Services | 9,390 | 999 | 10.6 | 6.0 | 4.7 | 11.0 |
| 116 | Marriott International | Consumer Services | 18,134 | 3,521 | 19.4 | 33.7 | -17.0 | 10.9 |
| 117 | Waste Management | Commercial and Professional Services | 22,527 | 1,439 | 6.4 | 12.9 | -1.8 | 10.9 |
| 118 | Nielsen Holdings | Commercial and Professional Services | 16,314 | 970 | 5.9 | 18.6 | -6.5 | 10.9 |
| 119 | AutoNation | Retailing | 6,600 | 748 | 11.3 | 12.3 | -1.4 | 10.8 |
| 120 | Aon | Insurance | 24,815 | 3,477 | 14.0 | 20.1 | -7.8 | 10.7 |
| 121 | The Travelers Cos. | Insurance | 30,974 | 6,556 | 21.1 | 13.8 | -2.8 | 10.6 |
| 122 | FedEx Corp. | Transportation | 40,657 | 6,023 | 14.8 | 22.2 | -9.5 | 10.6 |
| 123 | Morgan Stanley | Diversified Financials | 61,532 | 3,547 | 5.8 | 17.8 | -6.4 | 10.3 |
| 124 | Time Warner | Media | 56,071 | 8,413 | 15.0 | 16.6 | -5.5 | 10.2 |
| 125 | The Interpublic Group of Cos. | Media | 7,851 | 648 | 8.3 | 13.6 | -3.2 | 9.9 |
| 126 | Pfizer | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 193,716 | 14,484 | 7.5 | 12.2 | -2.2 | 9.8 |
| 127 | Expeditors International of Washington | Transportation | 8,900 | 1,103 | 12.4 | 8.3 | 1.4 | 9.8 |
| 128 | Amphenol Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 15,754 | 763 | 4.8 | 18.3 | -7.5 | 9.4 |
| 129 | SunTrust Banks | Banks | 19,657 | 974 | 5.0 | 13.2 | -3.4 | 9.4 |
| 130 | Microsoft Corp. | Software and Services | 353,991 | 24,328 | 6.9 | 20.1 | -9.1 | 9.2 |
| 131 | Ametek | Capital Goods | 12,670 | 552 | 4.4 | 10.1 | -1.1 | 8.9 |
| 132 | DENTSPLY International | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 7,070 | 322 | 4.5 | 12.4 | -3.1 | 8.9 |
| 133 | Pepsico | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 138,526 | 9,171 | 6.6 | 10.7 | -1.7 | 8.8 |
| 134 | Honeywell International | Capital Goods | 74,025 | 2,949 | 4.0 | 13.0 | -3.8 | 8.7 |
| 135 | Macy's | Retailing | 16,986 | 4,029 | 23.7 | 18.3 | -8.2 | 8.6 |
| 136 | Marsh & McLennan Cos. | Insurance | 27,676 | 2,392 | 8.6 | 17.7 | -8.0 | 8.3 |
| 137 | Kellogg Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 23,531 | 1,071 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 8.2 |
| 138 | Citigroup | Banks | 149,318 | 6,184 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.0 | 7.3 |
| 139 | CH Robinson Worldwide | Transportation | 9,611 | 443 | 4.6 | 9.5 | -2.0 | 7.2 |
| 140 | Phillips 66 | Energy | 41,340 | 4,032 | 9.8 | 20.0 | -10.7 | 7.2 |
| 141 | Lam Research Corp. | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 10,355 | 812 | 7.8 | 23.3 | -13.2 | 7.1 |
| 142 | KeyCorp. | Banks | 10,940 | 912 | 8.3 | 11.1 | -4.0 | 6.6 |
| 143 | Textron | Capital Goods | 10,405 | 551 | 5.3 | 22.2 | -13.1 | 6.2 |
| 144 | Rockwell Collins | Capital Goods | 10,784 | 541 | 5.0 | 11.8 | -5.2 | 6.0 |
| 145 | Kimberly-Clark Corp. | Household and Personal Products | 39,721 | 2,442 | 6.1 | 12.5 | -6.1 | 5.7 |
| 146 | U.S. Bancorp | Banks | 72,219 | 4,484 | 6.2 | 10.7 | -4.5 | 5.6 |
| 147 | The Allstate Corp. | Insurance | 23,319 | 4,966 | 21.3 | 13.6 | -7.0 | 5.6 |
| 148 | State Street Corp. | Diversified Financials | 27,429 | 3,618 | 13.2 | 6.0 | -0.5 | 5.4 |
| 149 | The Boeing Co. | Capital Goods | 88,980 | 13,004 | 14.6 | 16.1 | -9.2 | 5.4 |
| 150 | Bank of America Corp. | Banks | 162,631 | 4,601 | 2.8 | 9.4 | -3.8 | 5.2 |
| 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.. | ||||||||