| Buyback Scorecard Stock Buybacks Wrestle with an Aging BullBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons |
The table below ranks the 278 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from December 31, 2013, through December 31, 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—278 | ||||||||
| Company | Industry | Market Capitalization | $ Total Buyback | $ Total Buyback / Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI | |
| Average | $49,204 | $3,543 | 8.7% | 25.3% | -5.6% | 18.1% | ||
| Median | $24,279 | $1,744 | 7.3% | 24.5% | -4.7% | 17.2% | ||
| 101 | AutoZone | Retailing | 19,748 | 2,469 | 12.5 | 23.3 | 0.0 | 23.3 |
| 102 | Macy’s | Retailing | 22,703 | 3,472 | 15.3 | 26.7 | -3.0 | 22.9 |
| 103 | BlackRock | Diversified Financials | 59,931 | 2,610 | 4.4 | 36.5 | -10.1 | 22.7 |
| 104 | Wells Fargo & Co. | Banks | 284,386 | 14,770 | 5.2 | 28.9 | -4.8 | 22.7 |
| 105 | Amphenol Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 16,652 | 864 | 5.2 | 30.4 | -6.0 | 22.6 |
| 106 | Harris Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 7,512 | 774 | 10.3 | 23.0 | -0.4 | 22.5 |
| 107 | CarMax | Retailing | 14,043 | 1,163 | 8.3 | 27.5 | -4.0 | 22.3 |
| 108 | Dun & Bradstreet Corp. | Commercial and Professional Services | 4,344 | 645 | 14.8 | 24.7 | -1.9 | 22.3 |
| 109 | Eli Lilly and Co. | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 73,598 | 2,498 | 3.4 | 21.3 | 0.6 | 22.0 |
| 110 | TE Connectivity Ltd. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 25,722 | 1,184 | 4.6 | 34.5 | -9.3 | 22.0 |
| 111 | Wyndham Worldwide Corp. | Consumer Services | 10,571 | 1,239 | 11.7 | 26.9 | -3.9 | 21.9 |
| 112 | The Interpublic Group of Cos. | Media | 8,687 | 757 | 8.7 | 37.0 | -11.1 | 21.7 |
| 113 | Illinois Tool Works | Capital Goods | 37,021 | 4,987 | 13.5 | 25.2 | -2.8 | 21.7 |
| 114 | Intuitive Surgical | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 19,175 | 2,109 | 11.0 | -2.2 | 23.9 | 21.2 |
| 115 | The Travelers Cos. | Insurance | 35,078 | 5,793 | 16.5 | 22.0 | -0.7 | 21.2 |
| 116 | MasterCard | Software and Services | 99,330 | 5,829 | 5.9 | 31.7 | -8.1 | 21.0 |
| 117 | Aon | Insurance | 27,040 | 3,352 | 12.4 | 28.6 | -5.9 | 21.0 |
| 118 | ACE Limited | Insurance | 38,110 | 1,716 | 4.5 | 21.2 | -0.2 | 20.9 |
| 119 | The Priceline Group | Retailing | 59,697 | 1,634 | 2.7 | 34.9 | -10.4 | 20.9 |
| 120 | CenturyLink | Telecommunication Services | 22,589 | 2,236 | 9.9 | 8.2 | 11.2 | 20.3 |
| 121 | Assurant | Insurance | 4,808 | 608 | 12.7 | 37.4 | -12.5 | 20.3 |
| 122 | Corning | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 29,393 | 4,050 | 13.8 | 31.4 | -8.5 | 20.3 |
| 123 | International Paper Co. | Materials | 22,697 | 1,132 | 5.0 | 23.0 | -2.2 | 20.2 |
| 124 | CF Industries Holdings | Materials | 13,555 | 3,344 | 24.7 | 14.3 | 5.2 | 20.2 |
| 125 | Pepsico | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 141,519 | 8,013 | 5.7 | 20.7 | -0.4 | 20.2 |
| 126 | CH Robinson Worldwide | Transportation | 10,944 | 984 | 9.0 | 10.7 | 8.1 | 19.7 |
| 127 | PPG Industries | Materials | 31,722 | 1,750 | 5.5 | 32.5 | -9.7 | 19.6 |
| 128 | Express Scripts Holding Co. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 62,140 | 8,548 | 13.8 | 16.8 | 2.3 | 19.5 |
| 129 | Abbott Laboratories | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 67,791 | 3,510 | 5.2 | 21.2 | -1.6 | 19.2 |
| 130 | Republic Services | Commercial and Professional Services | 14,310 | 615 | 4.3 | 21.5 | -2.0 | 19.1 |
| 131 | Tractor Supply Co. | Retailing | 10,715 | 437 | 4.1 | 26.2 | -6.1 | 18.6 |
| 132 | Hasbro | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 6,911 | 563 | 8.1 | 27.0 | -6.7 | 18.5 |
| 133 | The TJX Cos. | Retailing | 47,245 | 3,122 | 6.6 | 23.1 | -3.9 | 18.4 |
| 134 | Comcast Corp. | Media | 149,266 | 6,251 | 4.2 | 24.3 | -4.9 | 18.2 |
| 135 | Huntington Bancshares | Banks | 8,568 | 459 | 5.4 | 27.5 | -7.5 | 18.0 |
| 136 | Merck & Co. | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 161,901 | 14,219 | 8.8 | 18.4 | -0.4 | 17.9 |
| 137 | Red Hat | Software and Services | 12,986 | 810 | 6.2 | 8.8 | 8.0 | 17.5 |
| 138 | The Goldman Sachs Group | Diversified Financials | 84,422 | 11,644 | 13.8 | 26.5 | -7.1 | 17.5 |
| 139 | Agilent Technologies | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 13,728 | 1,027 | 7.5 | 22.5 | -4.1 | 17.5 |
| 140 | United Parcel Service | Transportation | 100,634 | 6,533 | 6.5 | 23.7 | -5.4 | 17.0 |
| 141 | Tenet Healthcare Corp. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 4,980 | 400 | 8.0 | 38.4 | -15.8 | 16.6 |
| 142 | Ingersoll-Rand | Capital Goods | 16,828 | 2,588 | 15.4 | 30.2 | -10.5 | 16.5 |
| 143 | Kimberly-Clark Corp. | Household and Personal Products | 43,033 | 2,898 | 6.7 | 20.4 | -3.3 | 16.4 |
| 144 | Cisco Systems | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 142,234 | 14,654 | 10.3 | 21.1 | -3.9 | 16.4 |
| 145 | Johnson & Johnson | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 292,703 | 10,662 | 3.6 | 26.3 | -7.9 | 16.3 |
| 146 | EMC Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 60,518 | 5,984 | 9.9 | 8.9 | 6.7 | 16.2 |
| 147 | Starbucks Corp. | Consumer Services | 61,398 | 1,137 | 1.9 | 26.4 | -8.1 | 16.2 |
| 148 | Computer Sciences Corp. | Software and Services | 8,858 | 1,304 | 14.7 | 33.3 | -12.9 | 16.1 |
| 149 | Omnicom Group | Media | 19,227 | 1,638 | 8.5 | 24.8 | -7.0 | 16.0 |
| 150 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Banks | 233,906 | 9,549 | 4.1 | 23.2 | -6.1 | 15.7 |
| Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from December 2013 to December 2014. Includes the 493 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 12/31/2014. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.. | ||||||||
