EPS (Earnings Per Share)

EPS is a company's total profit divided by the number of shares (ownership pieces) outstanding. It tells you how much profit each share of stock represents. You'll see EPS quoted constantly when researching stocks because it's one of the simplest ways to compare how profitable a company actually is. A higher EPS generally means the company is making more money per share, which investors like. For example, if TechCorp made $100 million in profit and has 50 million shares outstanding, its EPS is $2 per share. Keep in mind that EPS can be manipulated by buybacks (when companies repurchase their own shares to reduce the total count), so it's worth checking alongside other metrics.