Buyback Scorecard U.S. Share Buybacks Rebound but Face Sharp CriticismBest & Worst ProgramsIndustry Comparisons

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%
51	Expedia	Retailing	11,144	822	7.4	28.2	6.2	36.2
52	St. Jude Medical	Healthcare Equipment and Services	17,119	2,001	11.7	32.0	3.1	36.1
53	Tenet Healthcare Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	5,815	500	8.6	63.3	-17.2	35.2
54	Boston Scientific Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	15,657	725	4.6	51.0	-10.5	35.1
55	The Interpublic Group of Cos.	Media	7,720	788	10.2	36.0	-0.9	34.8
56	The Dow Chemical Co.	Materials	62,618	3,407	5.4	37.0	-1.7	34.8
57	TE Connectivity Ltd.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	22,628	1,422	6.3	38.0	-2.6	34.4
58	Dover Corp.	Capital Goods	13,379	1,209	9.0	38.9	-3.3	34.3
59	KLA-Tencor Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	12,987	571	4.4	26.2	6.2	34.1
60	Schlumberger Limited	Energy	131,835	4,171	3.2	25.1	7.0	33.9
61	Corning	Technology Hardware and Equipment	24,968	4,007	16.0	34.2	-0.3	33.9
62	O'Reilly Automotive	Retailing	15,602	1,932	12.4	33.3	-0.3	32.9
63	Cintas Corp.	Commercial and Professional Services	8,385	570	6.8	29.1	2.9	32.9
64	Phillips 66	Energy	45,443	4,241	9.3	46.8	-9.5	32.8
65	CVS Health Corp.	Food and Staples Retailing	92,324	7,106	7.7	32.7	0.1	32.7
66	Autodesk	Software and Services	12,521	822	6.6	28.7	3.0	32.6
67	The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.	Diversified Financials	43,827	2,435	5.6	35.0	-1.9	32.5
68	Dr Pepper Snapple Group	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	12,549	814	6.5	20.9	9.4	32.2
69	F5 Networks	Technology Hardware and Equipment	8,797	851	9.7	8.9	21.4	32.2
70	Ball Corp.	Materials	8,759	969	11.1	24.6	6.1	32.2
71	V.F. Corp.	Consumer Durables and Apparel	28,466	1,012	3.6	32.8	-1.1	31.3
72	Walgreens Boots Alliance	Food and Staples Retailing	56,695	1,320	2.3	41.1	-7.0	31.2
73	Fidelity National Information Services	Software and Services	16,069	1,082	6.7	35.1	-3.0	31.1
74	Harris Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	6,938	772	11.1	28.4	2.0	30.9
75	Discover Financial Services	Diversified Financials	29,742	2,461	8.3	32.1	-0.9	30.9
76	Fiserv	Software and Services	16,108	1,160	7.2	33.1	-2.2	30.1
77	NVIDIA Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	9,998	1,797	18.0	19.8	8.6	30.0
78	Amphenol Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	15,697	876	5.6	31.0	-0.8	30.0
79	Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide	Consumer Services	15,853	1,523	9.6	27.1	2.2	29.9
80	Amgen	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	106,694	2,049	1.9	29.2	0.4	29.7
81	Texas Instruments	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	50,912	5,601	11.0	33.6	-3.1	29.4
82	Comerica	Banks	9,016	584	6.5	29.4	-0.3	29.1
83	Navient Corp.	Diversified Financials	7,428	766	10.3	35.3	-4.7	28.9
84	UnitedHealth Group	Healthcare Equipment and Services	83,803	6,684	8.0	27.0	1.3	28.7
85	Broadcom Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	23,888	1,047	4.4	8.1	18.9	28.6
86	Intuit	Software and Services	25,028	1,903	7.6	20.2	6.9	28.5
87	Cigna Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	23,926	2,382	10.0	45.6	-11.8	28.4
88	Cameron International Corp.	Energy	13,469	3,096	23.0	17.3	9.1	28.0
89	Invesco Ltd.	Diversified Financials	17,042	765	4.5	33.1	-3.9	28.0
90	Tyco International Ltd.	Commercial and Professional Services	19,767	2,133	10.8	30.4	-2.0	27.8
91	Macy's	Retailing	20,545	3,406	16.6	28.6	-0.7	27.7
92	Wyndham Worldwide Corp.	Consumer Services	10,171	1,225	12.0	25.5	1.5	27.4
93	Flowserve Corp.	Capital Goods	9,647	885	9.2	35.5	-6.0	27.4
94	Wells Fargo & Co.	Banks	270,783	13,146	4.9	26.3	0.8	27.3
95	FedEx Corp.	Transportation	45,730	5,648	12.4	31.4	-3.2	27.2
96	Aon	Insurance	25,464	3,352	13.2	32.9	-4.3	27.2
97	Marsh & McLennan Cos.	Insurance	28,490	1,340	4.7	27.7	-0.4	27.2
98	Unum Group	Insurance	8,759	718	8.2	37.4	-7.5	27.1
99	FLIR Systems	Technology Hardware and Equipment	4,442	324	7.3	30.8	-3.0	27.0
100	Citrix Systems	Software and Services	11,733	2,083	17.8	-6.1	35.2	26.9
Source: 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.