| Buyback Scorecard As Stocks Edge Higher, Buyback Programs Get RiskierThe S&P 500 as Stock Repurchasers Industry Comparisons |
The table below ranks the 276 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from March 31, 2013, through March 31, 2015. 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.
| The Best and Worst Corporate Stock Buyback Programs | |||||||||
| Best | |||||||||
| Company | Industry | Market Cap ($ Millions) | Total Buyback (S Millions) | $ Total Buyback as % Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI | ||
| 1 | Southwest Airlines Co. | Transportation | 29,947 | 1,695 | 5.7 | 94.7 | 4.6 | 103.5 | |
| 2 | Darden Restaurants | Consumer Services | 8,722 | 503 | 5.8 | 20.8 | 51.3 | 82.7 | |
| 3 | The Kroger Co. | Food and Staples Retailing | 37,257 | 1,746 | 4.7 | 60.0 | 7.0 | 71.1 | |
| 4 | Edwards Lifesciences Corp. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 15,318 | 791 | 5.2 | 23.7 | 31.1 | 62.1 | |
| 5 | AmerisourceBergen Corp. | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 24,963 | 1,270 | 5.1 | 48.6 | 4.6 | 55.5 | |
| 6 | Apple | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 724,773 | 77,910 | 10.7 | 37.7 | 11.6 | 53.7 | |
| 7 | Anthem | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 41,195 | 4,603 | 11.2 | 52.4 | 0.1 | 52.5 | |
| 8 | Humana | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 26,637 | 1,391 | 5.2 | 50.3 | 1.3 | 52.3 | |
| 9 | Delta Air Lines | Transportation | 37,059 | 1,775 | 4.8 | 79.3 | -15.3 | 51.9 | |
| 10 | Biogen | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 99,063 | 1,246 | 1.3 | 56.2 | -3.0 | 51.5 | |
| Worst | |||||||||
| Company | Industry | Market Cap ($ Millions) | Total Buyback (S Millions) | $ Total Buyback as % Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI | ||
| 1 | National Oilwell Varco | Energy | 20,493 | 2,109 | 10.3 | -5.4 | -60.1 | -62.2 | |
| 2 | Noble Corp. | Energy | 3,455 | 257 | 7.4 | -26.9 | -34.1 | -51.8 | |
| 3 | FMC Technologies | Energy | 8,566 | 368 | 4.3 | -10.4 | -27.9 | -35.4 | |
| 4 | Jacobs Engineering Group | Capital Goods | 5,794 | 333 | 5.7 | -7.0 | -27.0 | -32.1 | |
| 5 | Apache Corp. | Energy | 22,734 | 2,861 | 12.6 | -9.7 | -22.5 | -30.0 | |
| 6 | Fluor Corp. | Capital Goods | 8,427 | $1,087 | 12.9 | -4.4 | -23.7 | -27.0 | |
| 7 | Mattel | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 7,729 | 638 | 8.3 | -15.0 | -14.0 | -26.9 | |
| 8 | Cameron International Corp. | Energy | 8,702 | 3,125 | 35.9 | -14.7 | -9.9 | -23.1 | |
| 9 | Discovery Communications | Media | 20,194 | 3,044 | 15.1 | -6.6 | -14.1 | -19.8 | |
| 10 | Marathon Oil Corp. | Energy | 17,629 | 1,500 | 8.57 | -8.1 | -12.4 | -19.5 | |
| Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from March 2013 to March 2015. Includes the 492 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 03/31/2015. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion. | |||||||||
