EPS: Preferred Dividends, Options, and Convertible Debt

This unit’s Discussion topic is from CA16-5 of the text.

“Earnings per share” (EPS) is the most featured, single financial statistic about modern corporations. Daily published quotations of stock prices have recently been expanded to include for many securities a “times earnings” figure that is based on EPS. Stock analysts often focus their discussions on the EPS of the corporations they study.

Instructions

Explain how dividends or dividend requirements on any class of preferred stock that may be outstanding affect the computation of EPS.

One of the technical procedures applicable in EPS computations is the “treasury-stock method.”

Briefly describe the circumstances under which it might be appropriate to apply the treasury-stock method.

Convertible debentures are considered potentially dilutive common shares. Explain how convertible debentures are handled for purposes of EPS computations.