Buyback Scorecard The Most and Least Effective Stock Buyback Programs Best and Worst Programs Industry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 268 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from September 30, 2011, through September 30, 2013. 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—263
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$41,922	$3,016	8.7%	23.1%	4.4%	28.5%
	Median		$17,310	$1,400	7.8%	22.0%	3.5%	28.4%
151	Macy's	Retailing	16,280	2,514	15.4	33.9	-6.7	24.9
152	Rockwell Collins	Capital Goods	9,162	1,303	14.2	18.3	5.4	24.6
153	Franklin Resources	Diversified Financials	32,109	1,288	4.0	13.9	9.3	24.5
154	Pall Corp.	Capital Goods	8,616	531	6.2	23.3	0.9	24.4
155	Expedia	Retailing	7,046	552	7.8	40.8	-11.8	24.2
156	eBay	Software and Services	72,228	2,236	3.1	30.6	-5.1	23.9
157	DIRECTV	Media	31,819	9,533	29.0	15.5	7.2	23.8
158	Cintas Corp.	Commercial and Professional Services	6,184	452	7.3	27.4	-3.0	23.6
159	Emerson Electric Co.	Capital Goods	46,230	1,907	4.1	16.4	6.1	23.5
160	Fossil Group	Consumer Durables and Apparel	6,564	798	12.2	4.1	18.1	23.0
161	Safeway	Food and Staples Retailing	7,719	2,099	27.2	21.7	0.9	22.8
162	International Game Technology	Consumer Services	4,937	666	13.5	11.0	10.5	22.7
163	Republic Services	Commercial and Professional Services	12,077	571	4.7	12.0	9.5	22.7
164	AutoNation	Retailing	6,330	839	13.3	13.8	7.4	22.3
165	Patterson Cos.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	4,231	345	8.2	18.7	2.5	21.7
166	Baxter International	Healthcare Equipment and Services	35,656	2,513	7.0	15.8	5.0	21.6
167	Humana	Healthcare Equipment and Services	14,603	844	5.8	11.3	9.2	21.5
168	Reynolds American	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	26,538	1,858	7.0	23.1	-1.3	21.5
169	Covidien	Healthcare Equipment and Services	28,032	2,289	8.2	18.3	2.6	21.3
170	CA Technologies	Software and Services	13,519	1,393	10.3	23.6	-2.1	21.0
171	KLA-Tencor Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	10,145	531	5.2	27.4	-5.1	20.9
172	Pepsico	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	122,606	5,820	4.7	16.7	3.6	20.9
173	Kimberly-Clark Corp.	Household and Personal Products	36,090	2,243	6.2	24.4	-2.9	20.9
174	The Western Union Co.	Software and Services	10,299	1,107	10.7	4.4	15.4	20.5
175	Ross Stores	Retailing	15,775	1,038	6.6	35.2	-11.0	20.3
176	U.S. Bancorp	Banks	67,280	3,766	5.6	27.7	-5.8	20.3
177	PetSmart	Retailing	7,924	792	10.0	31.0	-8.3	20.1
178	Waters Corp.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	9,051	595	6.6	11.1	7.9	20.0
179	ConocoPhillips	Energy	85,011	8,250	9.7	17.7	1.8	19.9
180	The Procter & Gamble Co.	Household and Personal Products	206,992	11,251	5.4	16.4	2.9	19.8
181	Airgas	Materials	7,795	600	7.7	27.6	-6.2	19.7
182	Apple	Technology Hardware and Equipment	433,126	22,860	5.3	11.9	6.9	19.5
183	Abbott Laboratories	Healthcare Equipment and Services	51,581	3,933	7.6	24.4	-3.9	19.5
184	Dollar Tree	Retailing	12,747	1,752	13.7	24.5	-4.2	19.3
185	Merck & Co.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	139,322	9,473	6.8	25.2	-4.8	19.2
186	CR Bard	Healthcare Equipment and Services	9,118	1,145	12.6	10.1	8.1	19.0
187	Kimco Realty Corp.	Real Estate	8,267	720	8.7	15.3	2.7	18.4
188	Staples	Retailing	9,676	788	8.1	7.2	10.4	18.3
189	Colgate-Palmolive Co.	Household and Personal Products	55,011	3,478	6.3	19.0	-0.8	18.1
190	The Chubb Corp.	Insurance	22,807	2,301	10.1	22.0	-3.2	18.1
191	Jabil Circuit	Technology Hardware and Equipment	4,394	252	5.7	16.1	1.6	18.0
192	Bed Bath & Beyond	Retailing	16,544	2,269	13.7	14.7	2.7	17.9
193	The Clorox Co.	Household and Personal Products	10,659	474	4.4	14.6	2.7	17.7
194	Altria Group	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	68,808	1,656	2.4	22.0	-4.2	16.9
195	United Parcel Service	Transportation	85,730	4,979	5.8	17.7	-0.8	16.7
196	Accenture	Software and Services	46,835	4,643	9.9	18.1	-1.2	16.6
197	VeriSign	Software and Services	7,307	1,137	15.6	24.9	-6.6	16.6
198	Valero Energy Corp.	Energy	18,514	870	4.7	34.3	-13.2	16.6
199	Dollar General Corp.	Retailing	18,271	1,263	6.9	27.1	-8.4	16.5
200	General Electric Co.	Capital Goods	243,291	13,322	5.5	19.6	-2.7	16.4
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from Septmeber 2011 to September 2013. Includes the 489 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 09/30/2013. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 Billion.