Primary Earnings Per Share (EPS)
Categories: Accounting, Metrics
See: Earnings Per Share (EPS).
Well, if they're not primary, then what are they? Secondary?
Nope. The counter-play here would be Fully Diluted. That is, primary shares count only the shares actively outstanding. Like, just actively sitting in the sun, smiling, doing good work, being outstanding.
Whatever.com might have 100 million shares outstanding; those are its primary shares. But then it might have 10 million options granted and in-the-money and vested into. Those are its options outstanding. So if the company earned $100 million, then per primary share, it earned a buck. Per Fully Diluted share, it earned 91-ish cents.