Buyback Scorecard The Risk in No-Risk Stock BuybacksBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 299 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent or more than $1 billion of their shares from December 31, 2013 to December 31, 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—299
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$48,969	$3,699	9.2%	20.8%	-3.9%	16.3%
	Median		$24,408	$1,949	7.7%	20.1%	-3.6%	16.5%
251	Pentair	Capital Goods	8,928	1,354	15.2	-9.7	-7.5	-16.5
252	Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	21,888	3,223	14.7	1.7	-18.5	-17.1
253	United Technologies Corp.	Capital Goods	85,216	10,740	12.6	-3.6	-14.3	-17.4
254	W.W. Grainger	Capital Goods	12,720	1,925	15.1	-9.5	-8.9	-17.5
255	Eaton Corp.	Capital Goods	24,084	1,332	5.5	-10.1	-8.6	-17.8
256	Discovery Communications	Media	15,390	2,373	15.4	-17.4	-0.9	-18.2
257	Ralph Lauren Corp.	Consumer Durables and Apparel	9,442	1,081	11.4	-15.5	-3.5	-18.5
258	McKesson Corp.	Healthcare Equipment and Services	45,384	1,066	2.3	11.4	-27.7	-19.4
259	Caterpillar	Capital Goods	39,569	6,264	15.8	-6.7	-14.6	-20.3
260	Emerson Electric Co.	Capital Goods	31,155	3,666	11.8	-13.0	-8.9	-20.7
261	Wal-Mart Stores	Food and Staples Retailing	196,276	5,127	2.6	-9.6	-12.9	-21.2
262	Scripps Networks Interactive	Media	7,098	1,487	21.0	-14.2	-8.5	-21.5
263	Affiliated Managers Group	Diversified Financials	8,633	605	7.0	-7.2	-16.6	-22.6
264	Kohl's Corp.	Retailing	9,041	1,724	19.1	-5.5	-18.7	-23.2
265	Owens-Illinois	Materials	2,802	134	4.8	-20.9	-3.0	-23.3
266	Whole Foods Market	Food and Staples Retailing	11,432	1,663	14.5	-25.9	3.4	-23.3
267	Harley-Davidson	Automobiles and Components	8,709	2,153	24.7	-12.2	-13.0	-23.6
268	The Mosaic Co.	Materials	9,726	3,472	35.7	-15.2	-10.0	-23.6
269	Garmin	Consumer Durables and Apparel	7,075	397	5.6	-8.9	-16.3	-23.7
270	Fluor Corp.	Capital Goods	6,687	1,285	19.2	-20.5	-4.3	-23.9
271	United Rentals	Capital Goods	6,734	1,402	20.8	3.9	-27.2	-24.4
272	Franklin Resources	Diversified Financials	22,147	1,736	7.8	-13.5	-13.0	-24.8
273	Western Digital Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	13,915	1,546	11.1	-2.6	-22.9	-24.8
274	Hess Corp.	Energy	13,870	3,866	27.9	-15.3	-11.4	-24.9
275	Biogen	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	68,286	5,887	8.6	5.4	-29.1	-25.3
276	Cummins	Capital Goods	15,544	1,570	10.1	-11.3	-16.7	-26.1
277	Urban Outfitters	Retailing	2,669	991	37.1	-17.0	-11.0	-26.1
278	QUALCOMM	Technology Hardware and Equipment	75,132	16,843	22.4	-10.9	-18.5	-27.3
279	BorgWarner	Automobiles and Components	9,690	517	5.3	-9.2	-20.2	-27.5
280	Flowserve Corp.	Capital Goods	5,507	550	10.0	-19.3	-10.8	-28.0
281	The AES Corp.	Utilities	6,439	790	12.3	-14.2	-19.8	-31.2
282	Macy's	Retailing	10,997	3,902	35.5	-3.4	-29.0	-31.4
283	Host Hotels & Resorts	Real Estate	11,530	677	5.9	-1.6	-30.3	-31.4
284	The Gap	Retailing	9,927	2,254	22.7	-15.5	-19.5	-32.0
285	FMC Technologies	Energy	6,614	434	6.6	-21.1	-13.9	-32.0
286	Viacom	Media	16,466	3,356	20.4	-23.1	-12.9	-33.0
287	Marathon Oil Corp.	Energy	8,527	1,000	11.7	-29.5	-7.0	-34.4
288	Teradata Corp.	Software and Services	3,514	1,208	34.4	-21.1	-17.0	-34.5
289	Navient Corp.	Diversified Financials	4,148	1,480	35.7	-10.5	-26.8	-34.5
290	Apache Corp.	Energy	16,810	1,864	11.1	-26.6	-11.5	-35.1
291	Keurig Green Mountain	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	13,423	2,198	16.4	-3.3	-35.8	-38.0
292	Micron Technology	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	14,659	1,053	7.2	-9.3	-32.8	-39.0
293	National Oilwell Varco	Energy	12,584	3,000	23.8	-26.4	-18.4	-40.0
294	Michael Kors Holdings	Consumer Durables and Apparel	7,373	1,448	19.6	-27.7	-17.7	-40.5
295	Seagate Technology	Technology Hardware and Equipment	10,963	2,358	21.5	-8.9	-34.8	-40.6
296	Quanta Services	Capital Goods	3,235	1,700	52.5	-14.4	-32.9	-42.6
297	Murphy Oil Corp.	Energy	3,862	625	16.2	-32.5	-18.1	-44.8
298	Mallinckrodt	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	8,653	384	4.4	18.9	-61.6	-54.3
299	NRG Energy	Utilities	3,698	476	12.9	-31.2	-59.1	-71.9
* Company has yet to report latest quarter. Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from December 2013 to December 2015. Includes the 485 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 12/31/2015. Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.