| 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% | ||
| 251 | Kellogg Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 22,184 | 1,234 | 5.6 | 16.9 | -9.5 | 5.8 |
| 252 | Quest Diagnostics | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 8,763 | 1,169 | 13.3 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 5.6 |
| 253 | AT&T | Telecommunication Services | 182,755 | 19,023 | 10.4 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 5.4 |
| 254 | Pfizer | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 187,499 | 15,505 | 8.3 | 15.4 | -8.7 | 5.3 |
| 255 | Waters Corp. | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 8,323 | 624 | 7.5 | 14.1 | -7.9 | 5.1 |
| 256 | Citigroup | Banks | 157,106 | 2,647 | 1.7 | 30.9 | -19.8 | 4.9 |
| 257 | Wal-Mart Stores | Food and Staples Retailing | 246,426 | 8,931 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 0.5 | 4.8 |
| 258 | Urban Outfitters | Retailing | 4,930 | 500 | 10.1 | 4.5 | -0.8 | 3.7 |
| 259 | AFLAC | Insurance | 26,390 | 1,616 | 6.1 | 18.6 | -13.0 | 3.2 |
| 260 | McCormick & Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 8,686 | 390 | 4.5 | 8.2 | -4.7 | 3.1 |
| 261 | International Business Machines Corp. | Software and Services | 189,373 | 30,394 | 16.0 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 3.0 |
| 262 | The Hershey Co. | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 21,169 | 861 | 4.1 | 15.9 | -11.4 | 2.7 |
| 263 | FMC Corp. | Materials | 7,620 | 372 | 4.9 | 10.2 | -6.9 | 2.7 |
| 264 | PetSmart | Retailing | 6,962 | 769 | 11.0 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 2.2 |
| 265 | CA Technologies | Software and Services | 12,435 | 706 | 5.7 | 8.7 | -6.1 | 2.0 |
| 266 | McDonald's Corp. | Consumer Services | 93,097 | 4,246 | 4.6 | 6.3 | -4.2 | 1.8 |
| 267 | Ralph Lauren Corp. | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 14,487 | 1,040 | 7.2 | 5.3 | -3.5 | 1.7 |
| 268 | Denbury Resources | Energy | 5,239 | 741 | 14.1 | 4.1 | -2.4 | 1.6 |
| 269 | Darden Restaurants | Consumer Services | 6,823 | 501 | 7.3 | -1.1 | 2.7 | 1.5 |
| 270 | The Boeing Co. | Capital Goods | 91,792 | 6,801 | 7.4 | 34.8 | -24.8 | 1.3 |
| 271 | W.W. Grainger | Capital Goods | 17,212 | 800 | 4.6 | 12.0 | -9.5 | 1.3 |
| 272 | Deere & Co. | Capital Goods | 29,387 | 4,263 | 14.5 | 7.1 | -5.8 | 0.9 |
| 273 | Philip Morris International | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 130,282 | 10,981 | 8.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| 274 | eBay | Software and Services | 70,290 | 5,075 | 7.2 | 7.9 | -8.5 | -1.3 |
| 275 | The Mosaic Co. | Materials | 16,638 | 2,508 | 15.1 | -8.3 | 6.3 | -2.5 |
| 276 | Target Corp. | Retailing | 39,721 | 2,106 | 5.3 | 0.9 | -3.6 | -2.7 |
| 277 | Xilinx | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 11,370 | 570 | 5.0 | 17.3 | -18.9 | -4.8 |
| 278 | Bed Bath & Beyond | Retailing | 13,295 | 3,248 | 24.4 | -1.1 | -4.2 | -5.2 |
| 279 | Staples | Retailing | 7,795 | 508 | 6.5 | 2.0 | -7.7 | -5.9 |
| 280 | Fossil Group | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 4,968 | 969 | 19.5 | 12.2 | -17.6 | -7.5 |
| 281 | Mattel | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 10,355 | 649 | 6.3 | 4.6 | -17.8 | -14.0 |
| 282 | Teradata Corp. | Software and Services | 6,498 | 902 | 13.9 | -23.0 | 8.0 | -16.8 |
| 283 | Whole Foods Market | Food and Staples Retailing | 13,767 | 703 | 5.1 | -8.5 | -24.7 | -31.1 |
| 284 | Coach | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 9,811 | 750 | 7.6 | -18.8 | -15.6 | -31.4 |
| 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. | ||||||||