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Fourth-Quarter 2015 Corporate Buyback Scorecard; 1–50

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$3,6999.2%20.8%-3.9%16.3%
 Median $24,408$1,9497.7%20.1%-3.6%16.5%
1Tesoro Corp.Energy12,6865944.746.77.157.1
2NVIDIA Corp.Semi-conductors and Semi-conductor Equipment17,7321,2667.142.04.047.7
3O'Reilly AutomotiveRetailing24,9972,0038.043.42.146.4
4NIKEConsumer Durables and Apparel106,5245,4745.131.310.344.8
5Starbucks Corp.Consumer Services89,1332,4022.725.813.943.3
6The Kroger Co.Food and Staples Retailing40,7731,9864.938.73.243.1
7VeriSignSoftware and Services9,7411,52715.723.115.041.5
8Southwest Airlines Co.Transportation28,0042,1357.660.5-12.440.6
9Dr Pepper Snapple GroupFood, Beverage and Tobacco17,6059215.241.0-2.038.1
10The Home DepotRetailing167,67714,0008.330.54.836.8
11NasdaqDiversified Financials9,5545555.826.77.936.7
12Masco Corp.Capital Goods9,5224144.325.28.335.6
13FiservSoftware and Services20,9022,41311.531.92.034.6
14Cigna Corp.Healthcare Equipment and Services37,6952,2836.129.73.434.1
15Darden RestaurantsConsumer Services8,1555036.216.614.833.8
16Northrop Grumman Corp.Capital Goods34,4365,85017.033.50.033.5
17Valero Energy Corp.Energy34,0473,90511.530.22.333.2
18Altria GroupFood, Beverage and Tobacco114,1311,4931.331.10.531.8
19Red HatSoftware and Services15,1386834.530.90.331.2
20AssurantInsurance5,3035089.618.19.829.7
21AutoZoneRetailing22,4122,47911.130.4-1.129.0
22Lowe's Cos.Retailing69,5857,83011.325.62.628.9
23The Clorox Co.Household and Personal Products16,3737084.320.96.428.7
24Costco Wholesale Corp.Food and Staples Retailing71,0241,0181.418.28.528.2
25HasbroConsumer Durables and Apparel8,3955476.523.34.028.2
26UnitedHealth GroupHealthcare Equipment and Services112,1245,2084.629.6-1.128.2
27Cintas Corp.Commercial and Professional Services9,8301,16111.832.0-3.028.0
28VisaSoftware and Services188,4068,0444.324.92.427.9
29Microsoft Corp.Software and Services443,16925,8935.823.73.227.7
30Newell RubbermaidConsumer Durables and Apparel11,7785454.623.72.827.1
31AetnaHealthcare Equipment and Services37,7011,5144.030.1-2.626.7
32Eli Lilly and Co.Pharma-
ceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences
89,3681,5501.732.7-4.526.7
33The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.Automobiles and Components8,7854164.722.82.325.7
34eBaySoftware and Services32,9945,15015.618.45.524.9
35HumanaHealthcare Equipment and Services26,4591,2744.834.9-7.424.9
36Mondelez InternationalFood, Beverage and Tobacco71,2585,3227.517.95.924.8
37Adobe SystemsSoftware and Services46,8571,2252.627.5-2.124.8
38McDonald's Corp.Consumer Services108,4809,2988.611.611.624.6
39Tyson FoodsFood, Beverage and Tobacco21,1081,0184.826.7-1.824.4
40Lockheed Martin Corp.Capital Goods66,7294,9717.430.5-4.724.4
41Avery Dennison Corp.Materials5,7084948.718.94.624.3
42AccentureSoftware and Services65,6174,9497.520.92.824.3
43H&R BlockConsumer Services7,8591,91524.414.77.423.1
44Delta Air LinesTransportation39,8663,3008.336.9-10.222.9
45Ross StoresRetailing21,7931,3586.217.84.222.7
46Intercontinental ExchangeDiversified Financials30,4291,3954.611.99.522.5
47Walgreens Boots AllianceFood and Staples Retailing92,4492,0182.223.1-0.422.5
48The Walt Disney Co.Media173,71613,2567.628.7-5.122.2
49Juniper NetworksTechnology Hardware and Equipment10,6503,41632.122.1-1.220.7
50The Hartford Financial Services GroupInsurance17,8022,24512.617.42.420.3
* 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.