Investing and Money Glossary, terms and definitions.

Earnings Per Share (EPS)

Net income divided by common shares outstanding. A company that earns $1 million for the year and has a million shares outstanding has an EPS of $1. This EPS figure, which represents how much of earnings each share is entitled to, is important as the basis for various calculations an investor might make in assessing a stock's priciness. The most widely used indicator of whether a stock is over- or undervalued, for example, is the price/earnings (P/E) ratio, which relates share price to earnings per share.