Earnings per share (EPS)

EPS ('earnings per share') is a company's net profit divided by the number of its shares. Example: Net profit $500m, 100m shares → EPS = $5. Important because P/E is built on it (price / EPS = P/E). Looking at EPS over several years shows whether per-share earnings are steadily rising, flat, or shrinking — often more meaningful than total profit because it accounts for buybacks and share issuance.