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Earnings per share |
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Earnings per shareEarning per Share (EPS) = Earnings / Number of Shares in IssueEPS is a key ratio used in share valuations. It shows how much of the company's profits, after tax, each shareholder owns.Example: Goodco makes a post-tax profit of £1.2 million. There are 20 million shares in issue. EPS = £0.6What starts out as an easy calculation gets complicated because the rules on what constitute earnings are fuzzy, especially when it comes to 'extraordinary' items:When an industrial manufacturer sells a large parcel of land to a developer should that profit be treated the same as the profits from its mainstream activities?If its profits one year are wiped out by an uninsurable natural disaster at its plant, should that event be regarded as just a normal cost of doing business?Until recently companies had discretion about how they treated one-offs. They could call an unusual profit 'exceptional' and include it in their EPS, and call an unusual loss 'extraordinary' and exclude it from EPS. This made it very difficult for investors to gauge the true progress of the business.Various Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) have tried to regularise treatment of one-offs, but if anything have made analysis harder. Large companies now report EPS in different ways, and the challenge for investors is knowing what basis has been used. When newspapers report EPS they use 'adjusted' EPS (also known as 'headline earnings') which strips out all profits/losses attributable to non-core activities.Similar MatchesNet relevant earningsNet relevant earningsA person's pensionable income (that is, income from employment) plus taxable benefits in kind, less any allowable business expenses but before deduction of personal allowances. For self employed people these are taxable profits less capital allowances or losses from previous years. State Earnings Related Pension SchemeState Earnings Related Pension SchemeA government scheme introduced in April 1978 which enables employees (but not the self-employed) to top up the basic pension they receive on retirement with additional pension payments based on their earnings.Employees make payments to SERPS by way of Class 1 National Insurance (NI) contributions. They can 'contract out' of SERPS and pay Class 1 contributions via a rebate which may be invested in an occupational pension or a personal pension plan.SERPS was replaced in April 2002 with the 'State Second Pension' which is designed to give more to the lower paid and middle earners, carers and the long-term disabled with broken work records. Whereas with SERPS, the more you earn, the higher your pension, S2P operate a flat rate which means that high earners will be better off opting for private pension schemes. EarningsEarningsThe total amount earned, usually by a worker as wages, or by a firm as profits. Earnings before taxes (EBT)Earnings before taxes (EBT)A financial measure defined as revenues less cost of goods sold and selling, general, and administrative expenses. In other words, operating and nonoperating profit before the deduction of income taxes. Earnings factorEarnings factorThis is a theoretical earnings figure that is used for working out state pensions or guaranteed minimum pensions. Further SuggestionsAccounting earningsretained earnings Earnings price ratio Earnings before interest after taxes (EBIAT) Earnings response coefficient Earnings before interest and, taxes (EBIT) Earnings momentum normalised earnings lower earnings limit upper earnings level Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) taxable earnings Earnings Fully diluted earnings per shares Quality of earnings earnings cap earnings yield Pretax earnings or profits Earnings yield price earnings growth factor Earnings retention ratio Primary earnings per (common) share band earnings earnings Retained earnings |
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