Smith International Inc. (SII)

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Since the start of 2006 through mid-2007, 423 of the 500 S&P companies engaged in buybacks, paying more than $700 billion for 20 billion shares. ExxonMobil (ticker: XOM) alone spent $45.6 billion. However, the study found, the shares of just 103 of the 423 outpaced the S&P's 22% gain as of Sept. 30. Among the top performers were Amazon.com (AMZN), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX), Monsanto (MON), Smith International (SII), and Schlumberger (SLB). And, it can be argued that most of their gains came from the boom in energy and commodities prices, rather than their share repurchases.