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%
201 General Growth Properties Real Estate 19,439 1,123 5.8 17.5 -2.8 14.2
202 CarMax Retailing 10,447 525 5.0 21.0 -5.7 14.1
203 NetApp Technology Hardware and Equipment 12,224 2,472 20.2 0.5 13.4 13.9
204 General Mills Food, Beverage and Tobacco 31,843 2,449 7.7 15.7 -1.7 13.8
205 Sysco Corp. Food and Staples Retailing 21,135 1,054 5.0 13.8 -0.3 13.5
206 The Travelers Cos. Insurance 29,983 4,286 14.3 22.5 -7.6 13.2
207 Republic Services Commercial and Professional Services 12,250 663 5.4 9.5 3.2 13.0
208 XL Group Insurance 8,648 1,155 13.4 22.6 -7.9 12.9
209 Eli Lilly and Co. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 62,792 2,474 3.9 23.5 -8.7 12.8
210 ConAgra Foods Food, Beverage and Tobacco 13,045 597 4.6 11.3 1.2 12.7
211 Symantec Corp. Software and Services 13,810 1,326 9.6 12.0 0.4 12.5
212 Stanley Black & Decker Capital Goods 12,652 1,122 8.9 6.2 5.6 12.2
213 The Estée Lauder Cos. Household and Personal Products 25,899 1,031 4.0 10.3 1.6 12.1
214 Altria Group Food, Beverage and Tobacco 74,593 1,587 2.1 17.0 -4.2 12.1
215 Ross Stores Retailing 15,381 1,100 7.1 16.5 -3.9 11.9
216 W.W. Grainger Capital Goods 17,348 868 5.0 12.1 -0.2 11.9
217 Kimco Realty Corp. Real Estate 8,982 607 6.8 12.0 -0.3 11.7
218 Pepsico Food, Beverage and Tobacco 128,268 7,327 5.7 15.3 -3.2 11.6
219 The Procter & Gamble Co. Household and Personal Products 218,539 11,492 5.3 12.9 -1.7 10.9
220 eBay Software and Services 69,991 3,812 5.4 27.1 -12.8 10.8
221 Dollar General Corp. Retailing 17,398 1,792 10.3 16.6 -5.0 10.8
222 Baxter International Healthcare Equipment and Services 39,802 2,068 5.2 13.7 -3.0 10.3
223 Nordstrom Retailing 11,846 1,390 11.7 9.9 0.3 10.3
224 Cameron International Corp. Energy 13,391 2,452 18.3 6.1 3.8 10.2
225 Occidental Petroleum Corp. Energy 75,289 2,457 3.3 -1.0 11.2 10.1
226 Exxon Mobil Corp. Energy 422,099 35,222 8.3 8.2 1.7 10.0
227 Leggett & Platt Consumer Durables and Apparel 4,528 243 5.4 22.3 -10.2 9.8
228 Kohl's Corp. Retailing 11,846 1.961 16.6 7.8 1.6 9.5
229 The Chubb Corp. Insurance 21,893 2,337 10.7 15.3 -5.0 9.5
230 The AES Corp. Utilities 10,338 623 6.0 5.0 4.2 9.4
231 Deere & Co. Capital Goods 33,569 3,466 10.3 4.5 4.2 8.8
232 Yum! Brands Consumer Services 33,318 1,781 5.3 8.1 0.2 8.3
233 EMC Corp. Technology Hardware and Equipment 55,571 4,090 7.4 -0.3 8.4 8.1
234 Intel Corp. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 128,347 6,603 5.1 0.2 7.7 8.0
235 The J. M. Smucker Co. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 10,083 591 5.9 14.3 -5.5 8.0
236 Cisco Systems Technology Hardware and Equipment 115,466 13,305 11.5 8.2 -0.3 7.9
237 Citigroup Banks 144,627 2,159 1.5 23.2 -12.6 7.8
238 The Western Union Co. Software and Services 8,964 1,205 13.4 -2.7 10.4 7.4
239 Wal-Mart Stores Food and Staples Retailing 246,806 11,610 4.7 14.3 -6.2 7.2
240 Chevron Corp. Energy 227,015 8,830 3.9 7.5 -2.1 5.2
241 McDonald's Corp. Consumer Services 97,038 4,020 4.1 1.4 3.7 5.2
242 Dollar Tree Retailing 10,761 1,448 13.5 9.7 -4.4 4.8
243 Expeditors International of Washington Transportation 7,968 769 9.7 -2.0 6.6 4.4
244 Hess Corp. Energy 26,116 2,536 9.7 715.1 -9.8 3.7
245 Altera Corp. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 11,507 642 5.6 -5.0 8.1 2.7
246 The Coca-Cola Co. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 170,332 9,187 5.4 8.7 -5.8 2.4
247 Staples Retailing 7,379 683 9.3 -5.0 7.2 1.9
248 Bed Bath & Beyond Retailing 14,649 2,285 15.6 4.5 -2.7 1.7
249 Ralph Lauren Corp. Consumer Durables and Apparel 14,417 1,105 7.7 0.0 -0.5 -0.4
250 AT&T Telecommunication Services 182,604 24,951 13.7 7.2 -7.4 -0.8
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.