Basic earnings per share
Basic earnings per share is the year's profit divided by the average number of shares that actually existed — before counting anything that could turn into a share later.
How it is computed here
| Formula | net income attributable to common shareholders ÷ weighted average basic shares |
|---|---|
| Unit | Currency per share |
| Period | One fiscal year, as reported |
| Source | Extracted from SEC filings; every value on an asset page carries the accounting tag and the filing it came from |
| Identifier | lpa_basico |
What goes into the formula
| Net income attributable to common shareholders | The bottom line after removing what belongs to preferred shareholders and to minority interests in subsidiaries — money the common shareholder never had a claim on. |
|---|---|
| Weighted average basic shares | The average share count across the year, weighted by how long each share existed. Shares issued in November count for two months, not twelve. |
A formula without its inputs explained is decoration. Where an input is missing from a filing, the metric is left empty here rather than completed with a zero or an estimate.
How to calculate basic earnings per share, step by step
A company with options outstanding that have not been exercised.
| Net income to common shareholders | $2,400M |
|---|---|
| Weighted average basic shares | 1.00B |
| Weighted average diluted shares | 1.06B |
- Basic EPS = 2,400 ÷ 1,000 = $2.40.
- Diluted EPS = 2,400 ÷ 1,060 = $2.26.
- The 14-cent gap is what existing owners would give up if every option were exercised tomorrow.
Result: $2.40 basic, $2.26 diluted
Basic is the larger and more flattering of the two, which is why this site leads with diluted and keeps basic as the fallback when diluted is not reported.
The figures in this example are illustrative and rounded — they are not a real company. The real figures on this site are the live ones below and on every asset page, each carrying the filing it came from.
What basic earnings per share is good for
Basic EPS is the cleaner arithmetic — profit divided by shares that exist — and it is the figure to use when a company has no options, warrants or convertibles at all, which is common outside large caps. Comparing it to diluted EPS in one glance shows how much future dilution management has already promised away.
What this number does not tell you
Basic ignores every option and convertible already granted, so it describes an ownership structure that the company has already agreed to change. For a company that pays its staff largely in stock, the basic figure can overstate what a shareholder will own for years running. Like every per-share figure it is also broken by a stock split, and this site refuses to compute a change that crosses one.
Every metric on this site is published with its blind spot stated. A figure without its limit is half a fact.
Highest reported basic earnings per share
| SEBSeaboard Corporation | $514.46 |
|---|---|
| NVRNVR, Inc. | $462.00 |
| WTMWHITE MOUNTAINS INSURANCE GROUP, LTD | $430.14 |
| FRFHFFAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS LTD/ CAN | $230.07 |
| NIVFNewGenIvf Group Ltd | $214.73 |
| MKLMARKEL GROUP INC. | $169.74 |
| BKNGBooking Holdings Inc. | $166.52 |
| AZOAUTOZONE INC | $148.80 |
From the most recent fiscal year of each company. Only companies reporting in US dollars are ranked here — a figure in yen or won is not larger, it is in another currency.
See it in a published filing
These pages show the figure across up to nineteen fiscal years, with the accounting tag and the filing behind every value.