Shares Outstanding Formula Calculator Examples with Excel Template

Jeff Williams is a full-time day trader with over 15 years experience. Thousands of entry-level and experienced traders alike – day-traders and swing-trade small cap stock traders – credit Jeff with guiding them to turning small accounts into big accounts. Jeff’s “Small Account Challenge” shows people how to transform accounts from a few thousand dollars into $25k, $50k or even $100k. That’s why I teach students in my Trading Challenge how to become self-sufficient traders. Too many traders don’t have a trading education or prepare trading plans in advance. Stocks with a low float tend to be more volatile since there are fewer shares to go around.

EPS, or earnings per share, is a financial figure studied by investors, traders, and analysts. It is used to draw conclusions about a company’s earnings stability over time, its financial strength, and its potential performance. Basic shares are the number of outstanding stocks currently outstanding, however, fully diluted shares outstanding tells you how many outstanding shares there could potentially be.

What are Shares Outstanding? (Explanation)

This number differs from the company’s authorized and issued shares. For example, let’s say you want to calculate the weighted average number of outstanding shares for a company over two reporting periods of 6 months each. In the first 6-month reporting period, the company has 100,000 shares outstanding. In the second 6-month period, the company’s number of shares outstanding is 150,000. Once you have collected the total number of preferred shares, common shares outstanding, and treasury shares, you’re ready to do your calculation. Companies that have publicly traded stocks in the United States are required to file public financial disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which include the company’s balance sheet.

Investors who hold common stock exercise control by being able to vote on corporate policy and electing the company’s board of directors. Some companies’ balance sheets list the common shares outstanding straight out. If that’s the case, congratulations, you don’t need to do any calculations. But usually you will need to pull several numbers from the balance sheet in order to calculate the total outstanding shares formula.

How do stock splits affect shares outstanding?

Repurchased shares become treasury stock and no longer count as outstanding shares. Fully diluted shares outstanding is the total number of shares a company would theoretically have if all dilutive securities were exercised and converted into shares. Dilutive securities include options, warrants, convertible debt, and anything else that can be converted into shares. For a financial analyst, it is important to have a solid understanding of the difference between basic and fully diluted shares and what it means for key metrics like EPS.

Understanding how to calculate a weighted average can also be useful to individual investors who want to calculate their cost basis. The cost basis refers to the original purchase price of an asset or investment for tax purposes. Investors calculate the cost basis to determine if their investment has been profitable or not, along with any possible taxes they might owe on the investment. The weighted average number of outstanding shares in our example would be 150,000 shares.

Weighted Average Shares Outstanding Calculator — Excel Template

This measurement figures into the earnings portion of the price-earnings (P/E) valuation ratio. The P/E ratio is one of the most common ratios utilized by investors to determine whether a company’s stock price is valued properly relative to its earnings. Employee stock options, shares, annual net income and restricted share units are subject to a vesting period, typically between two and five years. Since some employees will quit before their shares vest, companies typically make an estimate, based on judgment, about forfeitures and the total number that will actually vest.

• In general, a company’s authorized shares represent the total outstanding shares that it can have after issuing all its shares.
• Diluted EPS is always less than the basic EPS, as the denominator in the latter is higher.
• Instead, the weighted average incorporates changes in the number of outstanding shares over a certain period of time.
• Thousands of entry-level and experienced traders alike – day-traders and swing-trade small cap stock traders – credit Jeff with guiding them to turning small accounts into big accounts.
• Investors can use the following formula to calculate its issued stock for the above equation.

Outstanding shares are one of three classifications of the share count. Issued shares refer to those shares issued by the company over time — yet, unlike outstanding shares, the number of issued shares includes shares repurchased by the company and held as treasury stock. Potential investors in a company look at the EPS as an indicator of the company’s profitability and compare this metric with the EPS of other companies before making an investment decision. Stock splits of this type tend to reduce the per share price, making the shares more marketable. This will happen with a “reverse stock split.” Companies may also repurchase shares previously sold to investors.

Calculating Weighted Average of Outstanding Shares

John, as an investor, would like to calculate the company’s market capitalization and its earnings per share. A company may announce a stock split in an attempt to increase the affordability of its shares and grow the number of investors. A 2-for-1 stock split, for example, will reduce the price of the stock by 50%, but also increase the number of shares outstanding by 2x.

Using an average of outstanding shares can provide an accurate picture of the earnings for the company. The number of outstanding shares is calculated by subtracting treasury stock from the shares issued. Generally, you won’t need to calculate this number yourself and it will be listed for you on a company’s 10-Q or 10-K filing. Before their availability on the secondary market, shares are authorized, issued, and, finally, purchased by investors who became equity owners or shareholders of the issuing company.

How To Calculate

It will also change if the number of shares changes through an offering or stock buyback. That’s why offerings and dilution through toxic financing can have such a huge impact on a stock’s price. When the float becomes larger as these shares enter the market, each share becomes worth less. Whether potential shares are considered anti-dilutive depends on the period.

Outstanding shares do not include treasury stock, which means shares that the corporation has repurchased from investors. Although preferred shares give their owners some ownership rights, they do not allow investors to vote at stockholders’ meetings and are not considered part of the outstanding stock. The total number of issued and treasury stock includes both common and preferred stock available in the company balance sheet.