Buyback
Scorecard
Stock Buybacks Prepare for the Bear Market
Best & Worst Companies
Industry Comparisons
The table below ranks the 284 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from June 30, 2013, through June 30, 2015. 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—284
Company Industry Market
Capitalization $ Total
Buyback $ Total
Buyback
/ Market Cap Buyback
Strategy Buyback
Effectiveness Buyback ROI Average $49,337 $3,692 9.5% 17.8% -3.2% 14.2% Median $22,959 $1,908 7.6% 17.9% -3.7% 14.9% 51 Gilead Sciences Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 172,061 8,850 5.1 44.8 -11.8 27.8 52 Newell Rubbermaid Consumer Durables and Apparel 11,046 933 8.4 25.4 1.3 27.0 53 General Dynamics Corp. Capital Goods 46,578 5,158 11.1 39.8 -9.5 26.5 54 Adobe Systems Software and Services 40,314 1,800 4.5 32.7 -4.8 26.4 55 CF Industries Holdings Materials 15,128 2,952 19.5 30.0 -2.8 26.3 56 Robert Half International Commercial and Professional Services 7,497 340 4.5 30.9 -3.5 26.3 57 Medtronic Healthcare Equipment and Services 104,952 3,883 3.7 26.7 -0.5 26.0 58 Lockheed Martin Corp. Capital Goods 58,514 4,277 7.3 42.0 -11.7 25.5 59 General Growth Properties Real Estate 22,738 1,123 4.9 17.4 6.6 25.1 60 Time Warner Cable Media 50,378 1,464 2.9 34.0 -6.7 25.0 61 AbbVie Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 107,039 6,198 5.8 26.3 -1.1 24.8 62 Visa Software and Services 164,310 8,424 5.1 25.4 -0.5 24.7 63 Time Warner Media 72,078 9,494 13.2 25.0 -0.2 24.7 64 Kohl's Corp. Retailing 12,389 1,795 14.5 21.6 2.4 24.6 65 Intercontinental Exchange Diversified Financials 24,989 1,131 4.5 18.8 4.9 24.6 66 Delta Air Lines Transportation 33,534 2,700 8.1 60.1 -22.2 24.6 67 Lam Research Corp. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 12,880 818 6.4 32.5 -6.1 24.4 68 Dollar Tree Retailing 16,287 1,000 6.1 27.4 -2.4 24.4 69 Avery Dennison Corp. Materials 5,547 383 6.9 19.9 3.5 24.1 70 LyondellBasell Industries Materials 48,741 6,960 14.3 30.0 -4.7 23.8 71 Amphenol Corp. Technology Hardware and Equipment 17,908 827 4.6 23.6 0.2 23.8 72 Target Corp. Retailing 52,120 1,237 2.4 11.0 11.4 23.7 73 Marathon Petroleum Corp. Energy 28,419 4,228 14.9 15.3 7.2 23.6 74 Macy's Retailing 22,698 3,596 15.8 23.1 0.3 23.5 75 The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Diversified Financials 47,070 3,346 7.1 24.1 -0.8 23.1 76 NVIDIA Corp. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 10,819 1,303 12.0 27.7 -3.6 23.1 77 FedEx Corp. Transportation 48,352 6,111 12.6 34.6 -8.7 22.8 78 Texas Instruments Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 53,589 5,623 10.5 27.7 -3.9 22.7 79 Dollar General Corp. Retailing 23,097 1,935 8.4 20.8 1.2 22.3 80 Yum! Brands Consumer Services 38,951 1,548 4.0 15.5 5.7 22.1 81 Abbott Laboratories Healthcare Equipment and Services 73,068 3,932 5.4 16.8 4.4 21.9 82 Express Scripts Holding Co. Healthcare Equipment and Services 64,863 13,247 20.4 20.4 1.1 21.7 83 Morgan Stanley Diversified Financials 76,417 3,022 4.0 28.0 -5.0 21.6 84 Waters Corp. Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 10,616 639 6.0 16.4 4.4 21.5 85 Accenture Software and Services 60,404 5,445 9.0 12.4 7.7 21.1 86 The Estée Lauder Cos. Household and Personal Products 32,792 1,650 5.0 13.7 6.4 21.0 87 Legg Mason Diversified Financials 5,713 695 12.2 30.0 -7.0 21.0 88 Northern Trust Corp. Diversified Financials 17,843 905 5.1 17.9 2.6 21.0 89 Aon Insurance 28,083 3,377 12.0 27.0 -4.8 20.9 90 CR Bard Healthcare Equipment and Services 12,674 1,325 10.5 28.9 -6.3 20.8 91 Cisco Systems Technology Hardware and Equipment 139,659 14,669 10.5 16.4 3.8 20.8 92 TE Connectivity Ltd. Technology Hardware and Equipment 26,144 1,089 4.2 28.1 -5.8 20.6 93 The Allstate Corp. Insurance 26,533 4,662 17.6 21.0 -0.6 20.2 94 AutoNation Retailing 7,181 598 8.3 19.3 0.7 20.2 95 Wyndham Worldwide Corp. Consumer Services 9,833 1,249 12.7 21.6 -1.3 20.0 96 Affiliated Managers Group Diversified Financials 11,963 521 4.4 18.6 1.1 19.9 97 Tyson Foods Food, Beverage and Tobacco 17,297 808 4.7 29.8 -7.7 19.9 98 Fidelity National Information Services Software and Services 17,518 1,074 6.1 24.6 -3.8 19.8 99 Harris Corp. Technology Hardware and Equipment 9,505 475 5.0 32.6 -9.7 19.7 100 CSX Corp. Transportation 32,258 1,059 3.3 21.4 -1.5 19.7 Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from June 2013 to June 2015. Includes the 488 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 06/30/2015. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.