“The NASDAQ US Buyback Achievers TR Index (DRB) has significantly outperformed the S&P 500 TR Index over the last 12 months, with returns of 27.24% vs. 20.44%, respectively. In addition, the NASDAQ US Buyback Achievers Index has also outperformed the S&P 500 in the last 24, 36, 60, and 120 month periods with comparable risk and over the last 10 years, the Index has a total return of 227.62% vs. 109.32% for the S&P 500 Index,” according to NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes, which references data as of April 30.
PKW is up 2% this year, meaning it has outperformed six of its top-10 holdings, a group that combines for about 36% of its weight. In fairness to the ETF, two of those top-10 holdings, DirecTV(NasdaqGS: DTV) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), have been acquisition targets. [ETFs for the DirecTV Takeover]
Over the past five years, the S&P 500 members that have been the largest repurchasers of their own shares are Dow components IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), which are 75% and 47%, respectively, over that time. PKW is higher by 157% over that time.
PowerShares Buyback Achievers Portfolio
