Buyback Scorecard Have Stock Buybacks Lost Their Credibility?Best & Worst CompaniesIndustry ComparisonsThe table below ranks the 305 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent or more than $1 billion of their shares from March 31, 2014 to March 31, 2016. 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—300 | 301—305
  Company Industry Market
Capitalization 		$ Total
Buyback 		$ Total
Buyback
/ Market Cap 		Buyback
Strategy 		Buyback
Effectiveness 		Buyback ROI
  Average   $45,750 $3,542 10.2% 3.0% -8.6% -5.3%
  Median   $20,394 $1,726 7.8% 3.6% -7.4% -5.3%
251 Alliance Data Systems Corp. Software and Services 13,049 1,602 12.3 -9.8 -14.6 -23.0
252 Robert Half International Commercial and Professional Services 6,014 430 7.2 2.4 -25.0 -23.2
253 Akamai Technologies Software and Services 9,822 564 5.7 -4.1 -20.1 -23.3
254 Norfolk Southern Corp. Transportation 24,659 1,555 6.3 -7.4 -17.2 -23.4
255 Urban Outfitters Retailing 3,885 737 19.0 -14.8 -10.5 -23.8
256 International Paper Co. Materials 16,874 942 5.6 -8.5 -18.0 -25.0
257 Invesco Diversified Financials 12,813 824 6.4 -6.1 -20.1 -25.0
258 Principal Financial Group Insurance 11,505 540 4.7 -5.7 -20.7 -25.2
259 Ameriprise Financial Diversified Financials 15,823 3,342 21.1 -7.6 -19.9 -26.0
260 Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. Food, Beverage and Tobacco 21,320 3,344 15.7 -5.9 -21.6 -26.2
261 Bed Bath & Beyond Retailing 8,120 3,351 41.3 -16.8 -11.7 -26.6
262 Nordstrom Retailing 9,893 1,645 16.6 -2.2 -25.1 -26.8
263 Biogen Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 56,925 5,887 10.3 -8.8 -19.9 -26.9
264 Flowserve Corp. Capital Goods 5,776 441 7.6 -25.8 -1.6 -27.0
265 HP Technology Hardware and Equipment 21,399 5,317 24.8 -8.7 -20.2 -27.2
266 The Gap Retailing 11,676 1,964 16.8 -17.4 -12.5 -27.7
267 Cummins Capital Goods 18,728 1,726 9.2 -14.4 -15.5 -27.7
268 QUALCOMM Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment 76,449 17,389 22.7 -17.3 -13.5 -28.5
269 CF Industries Holdings Materials 7,305 1,709 23.4 -16.2 -14.9 -28.8
270 Bank of America Corp. Banks 139,603 3,607 2.6 -9.5 -21.7 -29.1
271 Harley-Davidson Automobiles and Components 9,416 2,215 23.5 -17.1 -14.6 -29.1
272 Lincoln National Corp. Insurance 9,446 1,400 14.8 -10.6 -21.4 -29.7
273 Franklin Resources Diversified Financials 23,143 2,100 9.1 -17.6 -14.7 -29.7
274 Ralph Lauren Corp. Consumer Durables and Apparel 8,087 1,032 12.8 -20.9 -11.2 -29.8
275 American Express Co. Diversified Financials 58,842 9,076 15.4 -18.2 -14.3 -29.9
276 Host Hotels & Resorts Real Estate 12,563 758 6.0 -8.3 -23.8 -30.1
277 Macy's Retailing 13,746 3,629 26.4 -11.7 -21.3 -30.5
278 Citigroup Banks 122,796 8,378 6.8 -8.2 -24.6 -30.8
279 NetApp Technology Hardware and Equipment 7,978 2,125 26.6 -21.0 -12.7 -31.1
280 Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences 6,858 610 8.9 0.7 -31.6 -31.1
281 Morgan Stanley Diversified Financials 48,984 4,535 9.3 -7.8 -26.0 -31.7
282 McKesson Corp. Healthcare Equipment and Services 35,945 1,718 4.8 -3.4 -31.3 -33.6
283 Affiliated Managers Group Diversified Financials 8,768 621 7.1 -15.7 -21.5 -33.9
284 Legg Mason Diversified Financials 3,735 566 15.2 -14.6 -23.6 -34.8
285 The Mosaic Co. Materials 9,518 1,870 19.6 -24.1 -16.3 -36.5
286 Hess Corp. Energy 16,524 2,823 17.1 -24.3 -16.4 -36.7
287 Quanta Services Capital Goods 3,605 1,700 47.2 -23.0 -18.1 -36.9
288 Teradata Corp. Software and Services 3,383 1,169 34.6 -25.9 -15.5 -37.4
289 Apache Corp. Energy 18,475 1,380 7.5 -27.6 -14.3 -38.0
290 Viacom Media 16,541 2,496 15.1 -30.1 -11.7 -38.2
291 United Rentals Capital Goods 5,599 1,505 26.9 -19.0 -24.6 -38.9
292 Chipotle Mexican Grill Consumer Services 13,922 1,120 8.0 -7.1 -35.6 -40.2
293 Owens-Illinois Materials 2,569 134 5.2 -34.3 -9.2 -40.4
294 WestRock Co. Materials 9,817 766 7.8 -15.1 -32.0 -42.3
295 Western Digital Corp. Technology Hardware and Equipment 10,996 1,302 11.8 -24.4 -24.7 -43.1
296 National Oilwell Varco Energy 11,687 3,000 25.7 -30.9 -18.2 -43.5
297 BorgWarner Automobiles and Components 8,379 597 7.1 -23.0 -26.7 -43.5
298 FMC Technologies Energy 6,208 419 6.7 -29.4 -20.0 -43.5
299 Navient Corp. Diversified Financials 4,104 1,480 36.1 -14.9 -33.7 -43.6
300 Seagate Technology Technology Hardware and Equipment 10,212 2,203 21.6 -19.1 -32.2 -45.1
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database.

Financial Data from March 2014 to March 2016. Includes the 486 members of the
current S&P 500 that were public for the full period.

Market Capitalization as of: 3/31/2016.

Companies Included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than
4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion.