Question

Western Company has net income of $100 million in 2018. If net income in 2019 is $175 million or more, executives will receive 2 million additional shares of common stock. How does this effect the calculation of diluted EPS?

Answer 1

Diluted earnings per share (EPS) measures how EPS would be affected if all convertible securities are turned into common stock. As more convertible securities are turned into common stock, the EPS dilutes or decreases since net income must be divided by a larger amount of stocks.

In this case we are not told how many outstanding common stocks exist, but whatever the number, e.g. 50 million, the effect of the 2 million additional stocks given to the company's executives will reduce the EPS of all the outstanding common stocks. Current EPS = $175 million / 50 million = $3.50 per stock. With 2 million more common stocks, EPS = $175 million / 52 million = $3.37 per stock.