| Buyback Scorecard As Stocks Edge Higher, Buyback Programs Get RiskierBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry 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.
| How the S&P 500 Stack Up as Stock Repurchasers 1—50 | 51—100 | 101—150 | 151—200 | 201—250 | 251—276 | ||||||||
| Company | Industry | Market Capitalization | $ Total Buyback | $ Total Buyback / Market Cap | Buyback Strategy | Buyback Effectiveness | Buyback ROI | |
| Average | $48,969 | $3,699 | 9.2% | 20.8% | -3.9% | 16.3% | ||
| Median | $24,408 | $1,949 | 7.7% | 20.1% | -3.6% | 16.5% | ||
| 51 | The Allstate Corp. | Insurance | 29,637 | 4,406 | 14.9 | 27.1 | 3.3 | 31.3 |
| 52 | NIKE | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 86,679 | 4,725 | 5.5 | 34.2 | -2.1 | 31.3 |
| 53 | Starbucks Corp. | Consumer Services | 71,006 | 1,105 | 1.6 | 28.6 | 2.1 | 31.3 |
| 54 | Keurig Green Mountain | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 17,479 | 2,033 | 11.6 | 64.0 | -20.0 | 31.2 |
| 55 | Ball Corp. | Materials | 9,713 | 763 | 7.9 | 24.6 | 5.0 | 30.8 |
| 56 | Expedia | Retailing | 11,928 | 767 | 6.4 | 18.7 | 10.1 | 30.7 |
| 57 | Navient Corp. | Diversified Financials | 8,162 | 1,068 | 13.1 | 36.1 | -4.6 | 29.8 |
| 58 | Ameriprise Financial | Diversified Financials | 23,854 | 3,148 | 13.2 | 41.7 | -8.5 | 29.7 |
| 59 | NVIDIA Corp. | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 11,505 | 1,654 | 14.4 | 33.1 | -2.7 | 29.5 |
| 60 | Adobe Systems | Software and Services | 36,990 | 1,800 | 4.9 | 37.4 | -5.8 | 29.5 |
| 61 | Red Hat | Software and Services | 13,894 | 774 | 5.6 | 12.9 | 14.6 | 29.4 |
| 62 | CR Bard | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 12,438 | 1,471 | 11.8 | 31.2 | -1.5 | 29.2 |
| 63 | TE Connectivity | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 29,094 | 1,116 | 3.8 | 33.6 | -3.3 | 29.2 |
| 64 | FedEx Corp. | Transportation | 46,948 | 5,873 | 12.5 | 30.7 | -1.2 | 29.2 |
| 65 | Raytheon Co. | Capital Goods | 33,575 | 1,241 | 3.7 | 42.4 | -9.3 | 29.1 |
| 66 | AutoZone | Retailing | 21,640 | 2,310 | 10.7 | 29.7 | -0.5 | 29.1 |
| 67 | Newell Rubbermaid | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 10,490 | 921 | 8.8 | 30.0 | -0.8 | 29.0 |
| 68 | Fidelity National Information Services | Software and Services | 19,402 | 923 | 4.8 | 34.7 | -4.2 | 28.9 |
| 69 | Intuit | Software and Services | 26,831 | 2,831 | 10.6 | 22.0 | 5.4 | 28.6 |
| 70 | Nordstrom | Retailing | 15,293 | 979 | 6.4 | 22.9 | 4.7 | 28.6 |
| 71 | Visa | Software and Services | 160,619 | 8,457 | 5.3 | 29.9 | -1.0 | 28.6 |
| 72 | 3M Co. | Capital Goods | 104,796 | 10,945 | 10.4 | 30.2 | -1.2 | 28.5 |
| 73 | Valero Energy Corp. | Energy | 32,703 | 2,016 | 6.2 | 22.2 | 5.1 | 28.5 |
| 74 | Wyndham Worldwide Corp. | Consumer Services | 10,907 | 1,258 | 11.5 | 24.6 | 2.7 | 27.9 |
| 75 | Automatic Data Processing | Software and Services | 40,692 | 2,040 | 5.0 | 29.5 | -1.4 | 27.7 |
| 76 | Kohl’s Corp. | Retailing | 15,869 | 1,564 | 9.9 | 25.8 | 1.3 | 27.4 |
| 77 | Amphenol Corp. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 18,280 | 841 | 4.6 | 27.5 | -0.2 | 27.3 |
| 78 | Alliance Data Systems Corp. | Software and Services | 18,606 | 1,009 | 5.4 | 35.5 | -6.12 | 27.2 |
| 79 | Moody’s Corp. | Diversified Financials | 20,973 | 2,388 | 11.4 | 39.8 | -9.1 | 27.0 |
| 80 | Autodesk | Software and Services | 13,323 | 762 | 5.7 | 23.9 | 2.3 | 26.8 |
| 81 | Time Warner | Media | 70,129 | 6,695 | 9.5 | 30.4 | -3.5 | 25.9 |
| 82 | V.F. Corp. | Consumer Durables and Apparel | 32,044 | 1,465 | 4.6 | 39.6 | -9.9 | 25.7 |
| 83 | Dollar Tree | Retailing | 16,696 | 1,044 | 6.3 | 34.3 | -6.4 | 25.7 |
| 84 | The Interpublic Group of Cos. | Media | 9,121 | 732 | 8.0 | 33.4 | -5.8 | 25.7 |
| 85 | Delphi Automotive | Automobiles and Components | 23,213 | 1,599 | 6.9 | 38.4 | -9.3 | 25.5 |
| 86 | PPG Industries | Materials | 30,685 | 1,810 | 5.9 | 30.6 | -4.2 | 25.1 |
| 87 | Henry Schein | Healthcare Equipment and Services | 11,700 | 603 | 5.1 | 26.3 | -1.1 | 24.9 |
| 88 | Time Warner Cable | Media | 42,101 | 2,108 | 5.0 | 29.6 | -4.2 | 24.2 |
| 89 | International Paper Co. | Materials | 23,464 | 1,220 | 5.2 | 16.9 | 6.2 | 24.1 |
| 90 | L-3 Communications Holdings | Capital Goods | 10,415 | 1,601 | 15.4 | 30.7 | -5.2 | 23.9 |
| 91 | Tyson Foods | Food, Beverage and Tobacco | 15,579 | 871 | 5.6 | 33.5 | -7.2 | 23.9 |
| 92 | Norfolk Southern Corp. | Transportation | 33,618 | 1,327 | 3.9 | 25.9 | -1.5 | 23.9 |
| 93 | Gilead Sciences | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences | 145,533 | 8,850 | 6.1 | 55.8 | -20.5 | 23.8 |
| 94 | KLA-Tencor Corp. | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment | 9,482 | 744 | 7.8 | 25.8 | -1.7 | 23.6 |
| 95 | Aon | Insurance | 26,938 | 3,302 | 12.3 | 30.0 | -4.9 | 23.6 |
| 96 | The Travelers Cos. | Insurance | 34,750 | 6,106 | 17.6 | 18.8 | 3.9 | 23.4 |
| 97 | Macy’s | Retailing | 22,108 | 3,495 | 15.8 | 29.6 | -5.0 | 23.2 |
| 98 | E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. | Materials | 64,748 | 2,282 | 3.5 | 29.1 | -4.6 | 23.2 |
| 99 | Hewlett-Packard Co. | Technology Hardware and Equipment | 56,635 | 5,440 | 9.6 | 42.7 | -13.7 | 23.1 |
| 100 | BlackRock | Diversified Financials | 61,067 | 2,647 | 4.3 | 26.2 | -2.6 | 22.9 |
| 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. | ||||||||
