| Buyback Scorecard U.S. Share Buybacks Rebound but Face Sharp Criticism Best & 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 | $47,279 | $3,328 | 8.4% | 24.8% | 0.0% | 24.6% | ||
| Median | $21,863 | $1,630 | 7.3% | 25.0% | 0.1% | 24.2% | ||
| 201 | Monsanto Co. | Materials | 59,022 | 8,177 | 13.9 | 17.6 | -3.8 | 13.1 |
| 202 | Colgate-Palmolive Co. | Household and Personal Products | 59,566 | 3,239 | 5.4 | 14.4 | -1.3 | 12.9 |
| 203 | People's United Financial | Banks | 4,338 | 521 | 12.0 | 17.0 | -3.6 | 12.8 |
| 204 | Airgas | Materials | 8,247 | 600 | 7.3 | 17.5 | -4.0 | 12.8 |
| 205 | Viacom | Media | 32,375 | 7,495 | 23.2 | 31.2 | -14.1 | 12.7 |
| 206 | Sysco Corp. | Food and Staples Retailing | 22,268 | 1,052 | 4.7 | 15.6 | -2.5 | 12.7 |
| 207 | Johnson Controls | Automobiles and Components | 29,307 | 1,599 | 5.5 | 36.9 | -17.7 | 12.6 |
| 208 | Kohl's Corp. | Retailing | 12,491 | 1,788 | 14.3 | 8.6 | 3.6 | 12.6 |
| 209 | General Mills | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 30,459 | 2,957 | 9.7 | 19.7 | -5.9 | 12.6 |
| 210 | Avery Dennison Corp. | Materials | 4,185 | 369 | 8.8 | 30.1 | -13.7 | 12.3 |
| 211 | General Electric Co. | Capital Goods | 257,069 | 14,532 | 5.7 | 15.2 | -2.6 | 12.2 |
| 212 | Praxair | Materials | 37,672 | 1,337 | 3.5 | 13.1 | -0.8 | 12.2 |
| 213 | CBS Corp. | Media | 28,189 | 5,015 | 17.8 | 31.5 | -14.7 | 12.2 |
| 214 | Symantec Corp. | Software and Services | 16,229 | 1,075 | 6.6 | 21.6 | -7.9 | 12.0 |
| 215 | VeriSign | Software and Services | 6,891 | 1,803 | 26.2 | 8.3 | 3.1 | 11.7 |
| 216 | Murphy Oil Corp. | Energy | 10,106 | 1,125 | 11.1 | 21.5 | -8.3 | 11.5 |
| 217 | Chevron Corp. | Energy | 226,581 | 8,019 | 3.5 | 10.6 | 0.6 | 11.3 |
| 218 | Baxter International | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 38,876 | 1,828 | 4.7 | 16.7 | -5.1 | 10.7 |
| 219 | Exxon Mobil Corp. | Energy | 401,094 | 31,117 | 7.8 | 9.4 | 1.1 | 10.6 |
| 220 | Express Scripts Holding Co. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 52,651 | 7,729 | 14.7 | 9.1 | 1.3 | 10.5 |
| 221 | Tractor Supply Co. | Retailing | 8,469 | 491 | 5.8 | 17.9 | -6.5 | 10.3 |
| 222 | The Gap | Retailing | 18,130 | 2,588 | 14.3 | 15.6 | -4.7 | 10.2 |
| 223 | Bank of America Corp. | Banks | 179,295 | 4,895 | 2.7 | 41.1 | -22.0 | 10.1 |
| 224 | The AES Corp. | Utilities | 10,256 | 462 | 4.5 | 13.6 | -3.1 | 10.1 |
| 225 | Intuitive Surgical | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 16,603 | 2,162 | 13.0 | -6.2 | 16.9 | 9.6 |
| 226 | Fluor Corp. | Capital Goods | 10,520 | 705 | 6.7 | 19.4 | -8.3 | 9.6 |
| 227 | Laboratory Corp. of America | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 8,639 | 1,382 | 16.0 | 8.5 | 0.9 | 9.4 |
| 228 | Emerson Electric Co. | Capital Goods | 43,676 | 2,158 | 4.9 | 18.6 | -7.8 | 9.4 |
| 229 | The Procter & Gamble Co. | Household and Personal Products | 226,683 | 11,785 | 5.2 | 14.8 | -4.9 | 9.1 |
| 230 | Eastman Chemical Co. | Materials | 12,063 | 658 | 5.5 | 27.0 | -14.2 | 8.9 |
| 231 | The TJX Cos. | Retailing | 41,001 | 3,026 | 7.4 | 13.1 | -3.8 | 8.9 |
| 232 | Harley-Davidson | Automobiles and Components | 12,656 | 926 | 7.3 | 23.1 | -11.6 | 8.8 |
| 233 | Dollar General Corp. | Retailing | 18,541 | 1,495 | 8.1 | 7.5 | 1.1 | 8.7 |
| 234 | United Technologies Corp. | Capital Goods | 96,604 | 2,295 | 2.4 | 21.4 | -10.5 | 8.7 |
| 235 | The Coca-Cola Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 187,104 | 8,735 | 4.7 | 6.3 | 1.5 | 7.9 |
| 236 | The J. M. Smucker Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 10,079 | 709 | 7.0 | 15.3 | -6.6 | 7.7 |
| 237 | NetApp | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 13,715 | 2,842 | 20.7 | 11.6 | -3.6 | 7.6 |
| 238 | Discovery Communications | Media | 25,489 | 2,606 | 10.2 | 23.8 | -13.1 | 7.5 |
| 239 | Accenture | Software and Services | 51,069 | 5,104 | 10.0 | 17.0 | -8.1 | 7.5 |
| 240 | Ross Stores | Retailing | 15,859 | 1,153 | 7.3 | 2.6 | 4.4 | 7.1 |
| 241 | Motorola Solutions | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 15,876 | 3,143 | 19.8 | 16.6 | -8.2 | 7.0 |
| 242 | Patterson Cos. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 4,206 | 238 | 5.7 | 9.2 | -2.1 | 6.9 |
| 243 | Altera Corp. | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 11,055 | 804 | 7.3 | 1.0 | 5.8 | 6.8 |
| 244 | The Chubb Corp. | Insurance | 21,903 | 2,554 | 11.7 | 13.8 | -6.5 | 6.5 |
| 245 | Precision Castparts Corp. | Capital Goods | 33,986 | 1,254 | 3.7 | 22.8 | -13.4 | 6.4 |
| 246 | Expeditors International of Washington | Transportation | 7,917 | 846 | 10.7 | 8.5 | -2.1 | 6.3 |
| 247 | Dollar Tree | Retailing | 11,529 | 1,217 | 10.6 | 5.1 | 1.1 | 6.3 |
| 248 | Juniper Networks | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 9,994 | 2,589 | 25.9 | 16.0 | -8.6 | 6.0 |
| 249 | Yum! Brands | Consumer Services | 31,646 | 1,557 | 4.9 | 8.5 | -2.4 | 5.9 |
| 250 | PulteGroup | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 6,639 | 283 | 4.3 | 21.2 | -12.7 | 5.8 |
| 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. | ||||||||