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% 151 Omnicom Group Media 18,406 1,484 8.1 22.1 -0.1 22.0 152 Lowe's Cos. Retailing 47,861 7,361 15.4 28.5 -5.3 21.7 153 CF Industries Materials 12,525 3,000 24.0 18.6 2.4 21.5 154 Tractor Supply Co. Retailing 8,365 451 5.4 19.6 1.3 21.1 155 Altria Group Food, Beverage and Tobacco 83,312 1,493 1.8 17.5 3.0 21.1 156 FedEx Corp. Transportation 44,735 5,103 11.4 26.4 -4.6 20.6 157 General Motors Co. Automobiles and Components 58,226 7,539 12.9 25.4 -4.0 20.4 158 General Mills Food, Beverage and Tobacco 32,285 2,790 8.6 21.2 -0.7 20.4 159 Kimberly-Clark Corp. Household and Personal Products 41,907 2,766 6.6 22.7 -2.0 20.3 160 Ford Motor Co. Automobiles and Components 68,173 1,141 1.7 25.4 -4.2 20.1 161 United Parcel Service Transportation 93,975 5,953 6.3 17.3 2.4 20.1 162 U.S. Bancorp Banks 78,632 4,326 5.5 18.5 1.3 20.0 163 Intel Corp. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 153,820 7,559 4.9 4.5 14.8 19.9 164 Juniper Networks Technology Hardware and Equipment 11,626 1,985 17.1 15.6 3.6 19.7 165 The Sherwin-Williams Co. Materials 20,619 1,630 7.9 29.3 -7.5 19.6 166 Automatic Data Processing Software and Services 38,221 1,273 3.3 23.1 -3.1 19.4 167 Emerson Electric Co. Capital Goods 46,568 2,163 4.6 21.5 -1.9 19.3 168 The Travelers Cos. Insurance 32,687 4,809 14.7 24.1 -4.2 18.8 169 Cameron International Corp. Energy 13,826 2,750 19.9 16.6 1.6 18.5 170 Tenet Healthcare Corp. Healthcare Equipment and Services 4,584 500 10.9 50.5 -21.3 18.4 171 Johnson Controls Automobiles and Components 33,161 1,609 4.9 27.8 -7.4 18.3 172 Dun & Bradstreet Corp. Commercial and Professional Services 4,079 894 21.9 22.5 -3.4 18.3 173 Colgate-Palmolive Co. Household and Personal Products 62,411 3,316 5.3 18.9 -0.6 18.2 174 Fluor Corp. Capital Goods 12,238 649 5.3 21.4 -2.7 18.1 175 The Hershey Co. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 21,684 1,034 4.8 24.0 -4.8 18.0 176 Monsanto Co. Materials 65,438 2,018 3.1 25.7 -6.3 17.8 177 General Electric Co. Capital Goods 263,530 16,307 6.2 21.3 -2.9 17.8 178 Leggett & Platt Consumer Durables and Apparel 4,753 310 6.5 30.4 -9.7 17.7 179 The Hartford Financial Services Group Insurance 16,103 900 5.6 40.1 -16.2 17.4 180 Eli Lilly and Co. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 66,323 2,619 3.9 25.5 -6.5 17.2 181 CareFusion Corp. Healthcare Equipment and Services 9,194 969 10.5 28.0 -8.4 17.2 182 Franklin Resources Diversified Financials 36,306 1,034 2.8 22.5 -4.5 16.9 103 The Mosaic Co. Materials 18,972 2,133 11.2 0.8 15.8 16.8 184 Republic Services Commercial and Professional Services 13,531 623 4.6 17.0 -0.2 16.8 185 Marathon Oil Corp. Energy 26,989 1,500 5.6 20.3 -3.0 16.7 186 Murphy Oil Corp. Energy 11,930 1,125 9.4 26.8 -8.0 16.7 187 Occidental Petroleum Corp. Energy 80,628 2,950 3.7 10.3 5.6 16.5 188 Motorola Solutions Technology Hardware and Equipment 16,923 2,801 16.6 18.3 -1.6 16.4 189 Northern Trust Corp. Diversified Financials 15,184 660 4.3 19.9 -3.2 16.1 190 Nordstrom Retailing 12,905 1,148 8.9 14.2 1.6 16.1 191 Estée Lauder Companies Household and Personal Products 8,643 1,055 3.7 13.7 2.0 16.0 192 Varian Medical Systems Healthcare Equipment and Services 8,643 922 10.7 14.1 1.7 16.0 193 Praxair Materials 38,913 1,346 3.5 11.6 3.5 15.5 194 Abbott Laboratories Healthcare Equipment and Services 61,429 4,440 7.2 19.4 -3.3 15.4 195 Pepsico Food, Beverage and Tobacco 135,444 7,213 5.3 16.5 -0.9 15.4 196 Stanley Black & Decker Capital Goods 13,705 915 6.7 13.8 1.4 15.3 197 Scripps Networks Interactive Media 11,597 903 7.8 21.6 -5.2 15.2 198 Kimco Realty Corp. Real Estate 9,435 605 6.4 15.1 0.1 15.2 199 State Street Corp. Diversified Financials 28,950 4,680 16.2 25.2 -8.0 15.2 200 XL Group Insurance 8,886 1,204 13.6 26.4 -8.9 15.1 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.