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%
101	3M Co.	Capital Goods	89,238	8,600	9.6	26.6	4.8	32.7
102	Becton, Dickinson and Co.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	22,599	1,164	5.2	23.8	7.0	32.5
103	WellPoint	Healthcare Equipment and Services	28,119	4,250	15.1	18.2	12.0	32.4
104	CR Bard	Healthcare Equipment and Services	11,460	1,344	11.7	23.0	7.3	31.9
105	Rockwell Collins	Capital Goods	10,770	862	8.0	18.3	11.5	31.9
106	Amphenol Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	14,499	744	5.1	28.7	2.5	31.9
107	American International Group	Insurance	72,467	11,464	15.8	35.8	-3.0	31.7
108	Zimmer Holdings	Healthcare Equipment and Services	15,942	1,464	9.2	26.9	3.6	31.4
109	FedEx Corp.	Transportation	39,174	4,230	10.8	22.4	7.3	31.3
110	Newell Rubbermaid	Consumer Durables and Apparel	8,339	596	7.1	34.1	-2.1	31.3
111	General Motors Co.	Automobiles and Components	54,939	7,539	13.7	21.0	8.4	31.2
112	Cigna Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	22,727	1,826	8.0	35.2	-3.1	31.1
113	Intuit	Software and Services	22,022	1,844	8.4	16.6	12.4	31.1
114	Omnicom Group	Media	18,746	1,479	7.9	27.1	3.2	31.1
115	Marsh & McLennan Cos.	Insurance	27,084	3.8	25.6	4.4	31.0	31.9
116	Zions BanCorp.	Banks	5,727	923	16.1	26.7	3.1	30.6
117	Humana	Healthcare Equipment and Services	17,440	947	5.4	9.6	19.0	30.5
118	The Boeing Co.	Capital Goods	93,290	4,301	4.6	34.8	-3.2	30.4
119	Pall Corp.	Capital Goods	9,822	671	6.8	19.8	8.7	30.2
120	Navient Corp.	Diversified Financials	10,680	720	6.7	29.2	0.7	30.2
121	State Street Corp.	Diversified Financials	30,020	4,724	15.7	30.5	-0.4	30.1
122	Time Warner	Media	58,318	5,831	10.0	35.8	-4.4	29.8
123	United Technologies Corp.	Capital Goods	107,077	1,535	1.4	21.5	6.5	29.4
124	AutoZone	Retailing	17,846	2,759	15.5	20.0	7.8	29.3
125	Robert Half International	Commercial and Professional Services	5,767	323	5.6	20.8	6.8	29.0
126	Medtronic	Healthcare Equipment and Services	61,590	3,800	6.2	25.0	3.1	28.9
127	Wyndham Worldwide Corp.	Consumer Services	9,384	1,220	13.0	33.0	-3.1	28.9
128	Fluor Corp.	Capital Goods	12,464	754	6.1	16.5	10.3	28.5
129	Wells Fargo & Co.	Banks	261,218	10,235	3.9	25.9	1.9	28.3
130	Illinois Tool Works	Capital Goods	34,555	4,566	13.2	25.0	2.5	28.1
131	Apple	Technology Hardware and Equipment	479,069	45,860	9.6	4.8	22.1	28.0
132	The Goldman Sachs Group	Diversified Financials	74,296	12,169	16.4	23.4	3.6	27.8
133	Marriott International	Consumer Services	16,516	2,163	13.1	22.4	4.2	27.6
134	The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.	Diversified Financials	40,117	2,151	5.4	25.1	1.9	27.5
135	The TJX Cos.	Retailing	43,134	2,879	6.7	31.9	-3.3	27.4
136	Lorillard	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	19,588	1,175	6.0	17.0	8.9	27.4
137	Norfolk Southern Corp.	Transportation	32,074	1,565	4.9	17.5	8.1	27.0
138	Covidien	Healthcare Equipment and Services	33,170	2,677	8.1	24.6	1.9	27.0
139	Invesco	Diversified Financials	16,027	780	4.9	23.5	2.4	26.5
140	VeriSign	Software and Services	7,199	1,432	19.9	23.8	2.1	26.4
141	Johnson & Johnson	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	277,826	29,347	10.6	23.3	2.5	26.4
142	Lam Research Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	8,927	1,821	20.4	12.6	12.2	26.4
143	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Banks	228,004	6,612	2.9	24.5	1.4	26.2
144	CF Industries Holdings	Materials	14,457	2,691	18.6	17.9	7.0	26.2
145	The Hartford Financial Services Group	Insurance	15,742	900	5.7	35.7	-7.2	25.9
146	Harley-Davidson	Automobiles and Components	14,655	858	5.9	22.3	3.0	25.9
147	Cummins	Capital Goods	27,396	1,048	3.8	12.2	12.0	25.7
148	Scripps Networks Interactive	Media	11,105	853	7.7	32.5	-5.2	25.7
149	Merck & Co.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	166,939	9,818	5.9	23.7	1.4	25.4
150	Automatic Data Processing	Software and Services	37,226	1,406	3.8	22.1	2.6	25.3
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.