Common stock outstanding means all the shares of stock owned by investors and company insiders. The SEC requires this information to be shown on a company's balance sheet. When you buy stock in a ...

and number of common shares outstanding into three adjacent cells, say B3 through B5. In cell B6, input the formula "=B3-B4" to subtract preferred dividends from net income. In cell B7 ...

Earnings per share is the quotient of a company's net income divided by the number of shares of stock it has outstanding. In other words, EPS is a company's profit expressed on a per-share basis.