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.