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

The table below ranks the 273 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from June 30, 2012, through June 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%
151	Abbott Laboratories	Healthcare Equipment and Services	62,539	4,440	7.1	19.2	1.1	20.5
152	CF Industries	Materials	13,869	3,000	21.6	12.1	7.4	20.5
153	Rockwell Collins	Capital Goods	10,605	700	6.6	26.0	-4.6	20.1
154	Ford Motor Co.	Automobiles and Components	57,362	2,210	3.9	37.2	-12.6	19.9
155	Nordstrom	Retailing	13,169	1,271	9.7	14.1	4.8	19.6
156	Eli Lilly and Co.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	69,182	2,919	4.2	23.8	-3.4	19.6
157	Johnson & Johnson	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	300,614	7,919	2.6	27.0	-5.9	19.6
158	Omnicom Group	Media	17,295	1,575	9.1	21.2	-1.4	19.5
159	Pepsico	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	140,267	7,099	5.1	16.3	2.2	18.9
160	CarMax	Retailing	10,066	899	8.9	33.1	-10.7	18.8
161	Visa	Software and Services	132,514	9,633	7.3	29.2	-8.0	18.8
162	Cummins	Capital Goods	24,113	1,011	4.2	25.0	-5.0	18.7
163	Joy Global	Capital Goods	5,355	483	9.0	6.8	10.9	18.4
164	EMC Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	59,359	4,694	7.9	6.1	11.5	18.3
165	The Home Depot	Retailing	123,475	14,778	12.0	27.6	-7.4	18.2
166	Oracle Corp.	Software and Services	169,630	19,758	11.6	15.5	2.3	18.1
167	Twenty-First Century Fox	Media	74,060	6,002	8.1	30.6	-9.6	18.1
168	Scripps Networks Interactive	Media	10,942	1,153	10.5	18.9	-1.0	17.7
169	U.S. Bancorp	Banks	75,375	4,499	6.0	15.2	2.1	17.7
170	Cisco Systems	Technology Hardware and Equipment	128,347	13,990	10.9	22.6	-4.2	17.5
171	Pentair	Capital Goods	12,611	1,501	11.9	29.8	-9.5	17.5
172	Hasbro	Consumer Durables and Apparel	7,011	525	7.5	24.1	-5.4	17.4
173	Mondelez International	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	57,767	1,813	3.1	19.8	-2.0	17.4
174	General Motors Co.	Automobiles and Components	51,415	7,704	15.0	29.4	-9.3	17.3
175	American International Group	Insurance	77,080	4,000	5.2	29.6	-9.5	17.2
176	Leggett & Platt	Consumer Durables and Apparel	4,793	313	6.5	26.5	-7.8	16.6
177	Stanley Black & Decker	Capital Goods	13,876	916	6.6	17.6	-0.9	16.6
178	State Street Corp.	Diversified Financials	31,175	4,622	14.8	32.4	-12.0	16.5
179	The Goldman Sachs Group	Diversified Financials	80,877	11,918	14.7	31.2	-11.3	16.4
180	The Hartford Financial Services Group	Insurance	16,680	1,745	10.5	45.3	-20.0	16.3
181	ACE Limited	Insurance	35,205	1,294	3.7	21.9	-4.8	16.1
182	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Banks	226,551	8,039	3.5	28.7	-10.0	15.8
183	Red Hat	Software and Services	10,546	487	4.6	2.1	13.4	15.8
184	Pall Corp.	Capital Goods	8,939	734	8.2	22.6	-5.6	15.7
185	The Travelers Cos.	Insurance	31,850	5,211	16.4	22.9	-5.9	15.7
186	Fifth Third Bancorp	Banks	16,701	2,019	12.1	22.1	-5.3	15.6
187	QUALCOMM	Technology Hardware and Equipment	125,316	9,159	7.3	14.7	0.6	15.4
188	Occidental Petroleum Corp.	Energy	74,961	3,405	4.5	10.3	4.4	15.1
189	CH Robinson Worldwide	Transportation	9,760	1,023	10.5	10.9	3.6	14.9
190	Marathon Petroleum Corp.	Energy	23,989	4,742	19.8	34.2	-14.6	14.6
191	Kimco Realty Corp.	Real Estate	9,006	603	6.7	11.8	2.1	14.1
192	The Estée Lauder Cos.	Household and Personal Products	28,491	1,097	3.8	16.5	-2.1	14.1
193	United Parcel Service	Transportation	89,788	6,119	6.8	18.0	-3.3	14.0
194	AutoNation	Retailing	5,964	483	8.1	16.5	-2.2	14.0
195	XL Group	Insurance	8,807	1,354	15.4	24.4	-8.5	13.8
196	The Western Union Co.	Software and Services	8,498	1,200	14.1	1.9	11.6	13.8
197	International Paper Co.	Materials	20,386	1,403	6.9	25.2	-9.3	13.6
198	Varian Medical Systems	Healthcare Equipment and Services	8,268	1,048	12.7	19.7	-5.1	13.6
199	Franklin Resources	Diversified Financials	34,147	1,113	3.3	22.2	-7.1	13.5
200	Kimberly-Clark Corp.	Household and Personal Products	40,223	2,660	6.6	17.3	-3.4	13.3
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from June 2012 to June 2014. Includes the 490 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 06/01/2014. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 Billion.