Buyback Scorecard CFOs Share Their Stock Buyback Secrets Best and Worst Programs Industry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 274 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from June 30, 2012, through June 30, 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—274
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$47,210	$3,341	8.5%	24.7%	0.0%	24.5%
	Median		$21,878	$1,619	7.4%	24.9%	0.1%	24.0%
51	Rockwell Automation	Capital Goods	17,328	839	4.8	32.1	4.8	38.5
52	Lam Research Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	10,957	1,201	11.0	23.0	12.6	38.5
53	Celgene Corp.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	68,776	6,264	9.1	46.8	-5.8	38.2
54	O'Reilly Automotive	Retailing	15,975	2,084	13.0	23.4	11.4	37.4
55	The Walt Disney Co.	Media	148,488	10,147	6.8	37.2	0.1	37.3
56	Time Warner Cable	Media	41,039	3,831	9.3	37.1	0.1	37.2
57	Pentair	Capital Goods	14,042	1,501	10.7	36.9	-0.1	36.7
58	Union Pacific Corp.	Transportation	90,421	4,309	4.8	34.5	1.7	36.7
59	CVS Caremark Corp.	Food and Staples Retailing	88,409	8,309	9.4	31.8	3.3	36.2
60	Aon	Insurance	26,711	3,127	11.7	36.0	0.1	36.1
61	AmerisourceBergen Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	16,410	1,055	6.4	37.7	-1.3	35.9
62	Schlumberger Limited	Energy	153,399	4,320	2.8	25.7	7.9	35.7
63	The Interpublic Group of Cos.	Media	8,265	820	9.9	31.9	2.8	35.6
64	Hess Corp.	Energy	31,072	3,228	10.4	37.6	-1.5	35.6
65	Texas Instruments	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	51,582	5,531	10.7	28.3	5.4	35.2
66	Caterpillar	Capital Goods	67,836	3,738	5.5	7.9	25.2	35.2
67	E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.	Materials	60,097	2,061	3.4	19.2	13.0	34.7
68	Unum Group	Insurance	8,948	716	8.0	29.3	3.8	34.3
69	Tyco International	Commercial and Professional Services	21,034	1,106	5.3	29.5	3.5	33.9
70	KeyCorp	Banks	12,658	879	6.9	36.6	-2.0	33.9
71	Fidelity National Information Services	Software and Services	15,754	1,031	6.5	30.6	2.4	33.8
72	Robert Half International	Commercial and Professional Services	6,564	309	4.7	27.0	5.2	33.7
73	Macy's	Retailing	20,912	2,872	13.7	26.2	5.8	33.6
74	Comerica	Banks	9,113	615	6.7	28.6	3.8	33.5
75	Computer Sciences Corp.	Software and Services	9,201	952	10.3	55.0	-14.0	33.4
76	Ingersoll-Rand	Capital Goods	16,872	3,031	18.0	36.9	-2.7	33.3
77	Wells Fargo & Co.	Banks	276,837	11,152	4.0	27.7	3.8	32.5
78	Amphenol Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	15,139	754	5.0	31.9	0.0	31.9
79	Safeway	Food and Staples Retailing	7,909	664	8.4	44.9	-9.0	31.9
80	Fiserv	Software and Services	15,033	1,344	8.9	31.6	0.1	31.7
81	American International Group	Insurance	78,958	10,446	13.2	30.6	0.8	31.6
82	3M Co.	Capital Goods	93,719	9,387	10.0	30.4	0.9	31.6
83	American Express Co.	Diversified Financials	100,430	8,077	8.0	27.0	3.4	31.4
84	Cintas Corp.	Commercial and Professional Services	7,637	586	7.7	28.3	2.1	30.9
85	Norfolk Southern Corp.	Transportation	31,903	1,165	3.7	22.9	6.4	30.7
86	Zimmer	Healthcare Equipment and Services	17,430	1,357	7.8	28.4	1.7	30.7
87	GameStop Corp.	Retailing	4,608	474	10.3	44.0	-9.4	30.6
88	Becton, Dickinson and Co.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	22,856	1,101	4.8	27.1	2.7	30.5
89	Discover Financial Services	Diversified Financials	28,900	2,216	7.7	34.9	-3.3	30.4
90	Autodesk	Software and Services	12,847	849	6.6	18.6	9.8	30.2
91	Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide	Consumer Services	15,517	745	4.8	23.9	4.8	29.9
92	Microsoft Corp.	Software and Services	344,459	12,676	3.7	18.7	9.3	29.8
93	Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	80,390	2,024	2.5	25.5	3.7	29.8
94	Harley-Davidson	Automobiles and Components	15,253	842	5.5	21.8	6.4	29.6
95	Coca-Cola Enterprises	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	12,013	1,999	16.6	31.4	-1.6	29.3
96	General Growth Properties	Real Estate	20,821	1,123	5.4	19.1	8.5	29.2
97	Covidien	Healthcare Equipment and Services	40,687	2,450	6.0	26.2	2.3	29.2
98	Torchmark Corp.	Insurance	7,193	901	12.5	29.3	-0.4	28.8
99	Illinois Tool Works	Capital Goods	36,126	4,566	12.6	27.5	0.9	28.6
100	PPG Industries	Materials	29,055	1,300	4.5	41.9	-9.4	28.6
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from June 2012 to June 2014. Includes the 490 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 06/01/2014. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 Billion.