Earnings per share (EPS) is a company's profit divided by the number of shares it has outstanding — the slice of profit that belongs to each single share. It is one of the most-watched measures of how profitable a company is on a per-share basis.
EPS = (net income − preferred dividends) ÷ shares outstanding. Example (illustrative): a company earns $500 million in net profit and has 250 million shares. Its EPS is $500M ÷ 250M = $2.00 per share. If it later buys back shares and the count drops to 200 million on the same profit, EPS rises to $2.50 even though total profit didn't change — a reminder that EPS can move for reasons other than the business growing.
EPS feeds directly into the price-to-earnings ratio (price ÷ EPS), the most common way to gauge how expensive a stock is. But raw EPS can be distorted: share buybacks flatter it, one-off gains inflate it, and accounting choices affect it — which is why investors watch EPS growth over time and compare it to cash flow, not just a single quarter's number.
A U.S. company's official EPS is reported in its quarterly (10-Q) and annual (10-K) filings with the SEC, which are public and free on EDGAR. Quantustik surfaces the profitability picture on each ticker page's Fundamentals card, and tracks year-over-year EPS growth as a trend rather than a single figure. None of this is investment advice.
Take net income, subtract any preferred dividends, and divide by the number of shares outstanding. A company earning $500 million with 250 million shares has an EPS of $2.00.
Yes. If a company buys back shares, the same profit is divided among fewer shares, so EPS rises even though total profit is unchanged. That's why investors also watch cash flow and revenue, not EPS alone.
Basic EPS uses the current share count. Diluted EPS also counts shares that could be created from options and convertible securities, giving a more conservative, lower figure.
Browse all S&P 500 tickers to see this metric applied to individual companies.
Educational research only — not investment advice.