Fully Diluted EPS

This is the company headquarters for Beef in a Can, the meat industry’s answer to EZ Cheese. Ok, so the earnings number came in just fine at $1.12 a share. It's about what the Street was expecting. But then why did the stock sell off hard in the aftermarket? The stock was $35.52 at the close and now it’s at $33.20. Not a huge break, but 6 percent is 6 percent.

So...what gives?

Well, the primary earnings number was good; it beat Street expectations. But the fully diluted earnings per share...well…they sucked. Why? Because the company had granted too many stock options to its employees. There’s a super competitive environment in Silicon Valley to hire engineers, so, yes...in very Wall Streety irony, the company, in trying to be generous with its employees, and be competitive…killed their stock. Where’s the beef, indeed.

Well, those stock option grants were recognized by investors, and those “generous grants” ended up costing the employees and all the shareholders meaningful money as the stock price sagged.

Huh? How’d that work? What happened?

Well, there are primary shares that comprise the base of a company’s ownership. They are the common shares of the company and actually owned...that is, they aren’t options. So Beef in a Can has 100 million shares outstanding, of common shares. But it surprised Wall Street to learn that the company now also had 12 million options outstanding.

And as the company earned $112 million, then yes, they had net income or earnings per share of a dollar twelve for their primary earnings. But their fully diluted earnings are divided by the 100 million common plus the 12 million options, and that calculation is made by dividing the $112 million in earnings by the conveniently numbered 112 million fully diluted shares and options, to get only a dollar a share in fully diluted EPS.

Why is that such a problem? Well…dilution is a bad thing if you’re an already-owning-owner of a company.

Your ownership pie gets spread out over more and more mouths to feed, and you get less fat. So when Wall Street sold off the stock on this earnings surprise, the actual printed number was just fine. It was the denominator…the total dilution of option grants...that beat up the stock.

And yeah, if you’re the CEO of this company, you might, uh…have a beef with that.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is Fully Diluted EPS?1 Views

00:00

Finance allah shmoop What is fully diluted e p s

00:06

or earnings per share All right This is the company

00:11

headquarters for beef in a can the meat industry's answer

00:15

too easy cheese Okay so the earnings number came in

00:18

just fine at a dollar Twelve a share It's about

00:21

what wall street was expecting But then why did the

00:24

stock sell off so hard in the aftermarket the stock

00:27

was thirty five Fifty two with the close And now

00:29

it's only thirty three Twenty Not a huge break but

00:33

well about six ish percent is six ish percent So

00:36

what gives Well the primary earnings number was good It

00:41

beat street expectations of a buck ten But the fully

00:44

diluted earnings per share Well it sucked Why Well because

00:50

the company had granted too many stock options to its

00:53

employees There's a super competitive environment in silicon valley Teo

00:57

higher beef engineers So yes in very wall street E

01:01

Irony The company in trying to be generous with its

01:05

employees and be competitive Well it killed their stock Where's

01:09

the beef indeed Well those stock option grants were in

01:12

fact recognized by investors and those quote generous grants unquote

01:17

Ended up costing the employees well two bucks a share

01:20

and all the shareholders lost meaningful money is the stock

01:23

price sagged We'll have that work What happened Well there

01:27

are primary shares that comprise the base of a company's

01:31

ownership They are the common shares of the company and

01:34

actually owned that is they aren't just options So beef

01:38

in a can has one hundred million shares outstanding of

01:41

common shares common stock But it surprised wall street tto

01:45

learn that the company now also had twelve million options

01:49

outstanding and is the company earned one hundred twelve million

01:52

dollars then yes it had net income or earnings per

01:56

share of a dollar twelve on their primary earning things

02:00

but they're fully diluted Earnings are divided by the hundred

02:03

million common plus the twelve million options And that calculation

02:08

is made by dividing one hundred twelve million in earnings

02:10

then divided by the conveniently numbered here for this problem

02:14

one hundred twelve million fully diluted shares and options to

02:17

get only a dollar a share info fully diluted e

02:21

p s Well why is that such a problem Well

02:24

dilution is a bad thing if you're an already owning

02:27

owner of a company Your ownership i gets spread out

02:32

over more and more mouths That's gotta feed and well

02:35

you get less fat So when wall street sold off

02:38

the stock in this earning surprise the actual printed number

02:41

was just fine It was the denominator the total dilution

02:45

of option grants Well that's what feed up the stock

02:48

and yeah if you're the ceo of this company you 00:02:51.11 --> [endTime] might have a beef with that

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)