Buyback
Scorecard CFOs Share Their Stock Buyback Secrets Best and Worst Programs Industry Comparisons
The table below ranks the 270 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from March 31, 2012, through March 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—270
Company Industry Market
Capitalization 		$ Total
Buyback 		$ Total
Buyback
/ Market Cap 		Buyback
Strategy 		Buyback
Effectiveness 		Buyback ROI
  Average   $46,040 $3,349 8.6% 22.3% 4.3% 27.5%
  Median   $21,057 $1,530 7.2% 22.4% 3.4% 27.4%
151 The Sherwin-Williams Co. Materials 19,736 1,403 7.1 40.2 -10.9 24.9
152 UnitedHealth Group Healthcare Equipment and Services 81,104 6,174 7.6 19.9 4.1 24.8
153 QUALCOMM Technology Hardware and Equipment 133,359 7,828 5.9 12.5 10.8 24.7
154 Dun & Bradstreet Corp. Commercial and Professional Services 3,677 1,026 27.9 25.6 7.9 24.7
155 KLA-Tencor Corp. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 11,507 521 4.5 17.0 6.6 24.7
156 Microsoft Corp. Software and Services 340,247 12,536 3.7 14.1 9.3 24.6
157 The Allstate Corp. Insurance 25,297 3,553 14.0 35.0 -7.8 24.5
158 CA Technologies Software and Services 13,872 1,000 7.2 17.1 5.6 23.7
159 CareFusion Corp. Healthcare Equipment and Services 8,381 857 10.2 27.3 -3.5 22.9
160 U.S. Bancorp Banks 78,008 4,113 5.3 21.1 1.5 22.9
161 Franklin Resources Diversified Financials 34,179 1,188 3.5 21.7 1.0 22.9
162 Mondelez International Food, Beverage and Tobacco 58,769 1,261 2.1 19.8 2.4 22.7
163 F5 Networks Technology Hardware and Equipment 7,219 650 9.0 -7.4 32.3 22.5
164 Kimberly-Clark Corp. Household and Personal Products 41,750 2,503 6.0 26.4 -3.1 22.5
165 The Home Depot Retailing 109,306 12,649 11.6 33.7 -8.5 22.3
166 Emerson Electric Co. Capital Goods 46,959 2,174 4.6 17.2 4.3 22.3
167 Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 205,020 17,399 8.5 24.9 -2.5 21.8
168 Caterpillar Capital Goods 63,380 3,738 5.9 -4.7 27.7 21.8
169 Tenet Healthcare Corp. Healthcare Equipment and Services 4,177 500 12.0 42.6 -14.9 21.3
170 Varian Medical Systems Healthcare Equipment and Services 8,697 916 10.5 10.0 10.2 21.2
171 Ball Corp. Materials 7,708 971 12.6 17.1 3.3 21.0
172 United Parcel Service Transportation 89,526 5,582 6.2 16.0 4.3 20.9
173 Accenture Software and Services 50,468 5,354 10.6 21.1 -0.3 20.8
174 Discovery Communications Media 28,399 2,209 7.8 34.9 -10.5 20.8
175 Motorola Solutions Technology Hardware and Equipment 16,335 2,824 17.3 18.2 1.8 20.2
176 Oracle Corp. Software and Services 182,413 21,261 11.7 16.4 3.2 20.1
177 Abbott Laboratories Healthcare Equipment and Services 59,424 5,174 8.7 23.2 -3.4 19.1
178 Waters Corp. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 9,234 622 6.7 11.9 6.4 19.0
179 Capital One Financial Corp. Diversified Financials 44,194 1,703 2.4 23.0 -3.5 18.8
180 General Electric Co. Capital Goods 259,547 16,895 6.5 19.8 -1.0 18.5
181 Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 37,119 1,741 4.7 16.8 1.4 18.5
182 Monster Beverage Corp. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 11,590 795 6.9 13.1 4.7 18.4
4 Tesoro Corp. Energy 6,627 561 8.5 41.5 -16.5 18.2
184 ConocoPhillips Energy 86,256 3,199 3.7 13.7 3.6 17.7
185 Reynolds American Food, Beverage and Tobacco 28,659 1,599 5.6 17.1 0.2 17.3
186 Monsanto Co. Materials 59,719 1,992 3.3 20.3 -2.6 17.3
187 Praxair Materials 38,432 1,324 3.4 11.1 5.4 17.1
188 International Paper Co. Materials 20,132 900 4.5 23.4 -5.2 16.9
189 Schlumberger Limited Energy 127,378 3,145 2.5 11.8 4.5 16.8
190 AFLAC Insurance 28,670 1,342 4.7 19.6 -2.5 16.7
191 Joy Global Capital Goods 5,808 336 5.8 -17.7 41.7 16.6
192 People's United Financial Banks 4,445 628 14.1 11.7 4.3 16.5
193 Dr Pepper Snapple Group Food, Beverage and Tobacco 10,812 865 8.0 18.1 -1.7 16.2
194 Fossil Group Consumer Durables and Apparel 6,296 905 14.4 3.0 12.5 15.9
195 Airgas Materials 7,878 600 7.6 16.6 6-0.9 15.6
196 The Gap Retailing 17,907 2,217 12.4 37.3 -15.9 15.5
197 Colgate-Palmolive Co. Household and Personal Products 59,464 3,454 5.8 19.5 -3.5 15.3
198 MeadWestvaco Corp. Materials 6,295 431 6.8 20.4 -4.3 15.2
199 Murphy Oil Corp. Energy 11,279 1,000 8.9 12.5 2.3 15.0
200 Patterson Cos. Healthcare Equipment and Services 4,340 290 6.7 15.4 -1.0 14.3
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from March 2012 to March 2014. Includes the 490 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 03/31/2014. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 Billion.