Ledger & Line Markets, money, and the mechanics behind the headlines.

Companies · Definition

Earnings Per Share

A company's net profit divided by its number of outstanding shares — profit attributable to each share.

Because EPS is profit divided by share count, reducing the share count (e.g. via a buyback) raises EPS even if total profit is unchanged. That is why per-share metrics can be flattered by financial engineering, not just business growth.