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Third-Quarter 2014 Corporate Buyback Scorecard; 1–50

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The table below ranks the 284 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from September 30, 2012, through September 30, 2014. 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—284
Company Industry Market
Capitalization
$ Total
Buyback
$ Total
Buyback
/ Market Cap
Buyback
Strategy
Buyback
Effectiveness
Buyback ROI
 Average $46,507 $3,389 8.8%25.9%-2.3%22.5%
 Median $21,933 $1,624 7.4%25.3%-2.5%21.8%
1Southwest Airlines Co.Transportation23,1371,3705.984.78.099.5
2Keurig Green MountainFood, Beverage and Tobacco21,136 1,2415.9130.7-15.994.1
3Gilead Sciences Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences160,917 4,1312.684.8-3.179.0
4United RentalsCapital Goods10,655 5174.984.3-3.078.8
5LyondellBasell IndustriesMaterials55,670 3,449 6.261.81.564.2
6SanDisk Corp.Technology Hardware and Equipment21,9632,46611.255.6

5.4

64.17Western Digital Corp.Technology Hardware and Equipment22,735 1,6637.362.50.663.68Hewlett-Packard Co.Technology Hardware and Equipment66,1974,260 6.442.811.258.89Marriott InternationalConsumer Services20,311 2,049 10.135.512.151.910McKesson Corp.Healthcare Equipment and Services45,085 1,396 3.147.52.751.511AppleTechnology Hardware and Equipment603,278 67,860 11.26.041.149.512The Kroger Co.Food and Staples Retailing25,537 1,916 7.552.5-2.049.513Halliburton Co.Energy54,8685,1899.545.32.849.414Lam Research Corp.Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment12,134 1,154 9.544.33.349.015AnthemHealthcare Equipment and Services32,586 4,494 13.842.54.549.016Intel Corp.Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipments172,394 10,566 6.120.623.549.017Seagate Technology Public Limited Co.Technology Hardware and Equipment18,672 3,110 16.745.22.348.618Lockheed Martin Corp.Capital Goods57,683 3,720 6.443.02.947.219Ameriprise FinancialDiversified Financials23,0973,14713.654.6-5.146.720Adobe SystemsSoftware and Services34,508 1,675 4.948.7-2.345.321HumanaHealthcare Equipment and Services20,098 8064.036.26.745.322General Dynamics Corp.Capital Goods42,488 3,857 9.140.33.144.823Celgene Corp.Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences75,778 5,772 7.659.8-9.444.724Legg Mason Diversified Financials5,925 72412.241.12.14.4125Moody's Corp.Diversified Financials19,9581,7458.753.7-6.843.326CovidienHealthcare Equipment and Services39,081 1,906 4.934.26.743.227Xerox Corp.Software and Services15,170 1,760 11.637.64.043.128Northrop Grumman Corp.Capital Goods27,398 4,89917.941.80.943.129Yahoo!Software and Services40,530 7,346 18.155.5-8.143.030Lincoln National Corp.Insurance13,988 9927.155.3-8.941.431MeadWestvaco Corp.Materials6,898 4716.827.010.740.632Tyson FoodsFood, Beverage and Tobacco14,7869096.157.2-10.740.333AllerganPharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences52,955 1,672 3.237.81.840.234AmerisourceBergen Corp.Healthcare Equipment and Services17,345 1,238 7.142.5-1.740.135Hess Corp.Energy29,025 4,131 14.243.1-2.539.636MylanPharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences17,015 1,5008.844.6-3.539.537The Priceline GroupRetailing60,765 1,131 1.940.0-1.038.638DIRECTVMedia43,4536,73315.529.96.538.439AetnaHealthcare Equipment and Services28,723 2,895 10.148.1-6.838.040LorillardFood, Beverage and Tobacco21,569 1,244 5.825.59.937.941Time Warner Media63,841 6,730 10.542.3-3.137.942The Walt Disney Co.Media152,824 10,614 6.934.62.337.843Delphi AutomotiveAutomobiles and Components18,3791,2226.655.5-11.537.744Raytheon Co.Capital Goods31,5751,0883.434.42.437.645Robert Half InternationalCommercial and Professional Services6,718 3525.236.60.537.446Microsoft Corp.Software and Services381,999 13,932 3.625.09.937.347Cardinal HealthHealthcare Equipment and Services25,2221,2835.137.20.037.348McGraw Hill FinancialDiversified Financials22,8781,3405.934.42.137.249Union Pacific Corp.Transportation97,2994,825 5.033.22.536.550Time Warner CableMedia40,104 3,331 8.332.82.636.3Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from September 2012 to September 2014. Includes the 491 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 09/30/2014. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.