Dividends plus buybacks worth 6% or more of the market value each year, without heavy debt.
Counting buybacks alongside dividends gives a fuller picture of the cash a company returns. Limiting net debt to three years of EBITDA keeps out companies borrowing to pay shareholders.
Based on Shareholder Yield (Mebane Faber, 2013).
$10,000 in this list since 2016
Rebuilt every month from the data public at the time
Per year
+13.6%
All stocks +9.4%, S&P 500 +13.8%
Worst fall from a peak
-39%
All stocks -35%
Months ahead of all stocks
51%
120 months tested
Stocks held, on average
106
Equal weights
Past 12 months
+24.4%
All stocks +4.1%, S&P 500 +12.4%
Volatility, per year
22%
All stocks 22%
Sharpe ratio
0.58
All stocks 0.40; return over cash per unit of volatility
Replaced each month
18%
Share of the list that changes at a rebalance
Live since Oct 19, 2026. Holding the list as published, rebought at each month end: +4.3% against +2.1% for all stocks and +0.7% for the S&P 500, to Oct 30, 2026. Too short a period to read much into.
Shareholder yield
All US stocks, equal weight
S&P 500 (price only)
Year by year
Portfolio
2016from Oct 31
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026to Oct 19
This list
+11%
+20%
-4%
+33%
+8%
+39%
-11%
+27%
-0%
+4%
+19%
All US stocks
+12%
+19%
145 stocks on the list today
As of the close on Oct 30, 2026; 1 joined and 2 left since Oct 29, 2026