| 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. | ||||||||
