Earnings Per Share (EPS)

Earnings per share, or EPS, is a company’s net profit divided by the number of shares outstanding — the slice of profit attributable to each single share. It’s a core building block of valuation: the P/E ratio, for instance, compares the share price to EPS. Steady, growing EPS over many years points to a business that’s reliably becoming more profitable per share, though it’s worth confirming the growth is backed by real cash flow.