Earnings Per Share (EPS) vs. Dividends Per Share (DPS): What's the Difference?

Earnings Per Share (EPS) vs. Dividends Per Share (DPS): An Overview

Earnings per share (EPS) and dividends per share (DPS) are both reflections of a company's profitability but that's where any similarities end. Earnings per share is a ratio that gauges how profitable a company is per share of its stock. Dividends per share calculates the portion of a company's earnings that's paid out to shareholders.

Both measures have their uses for investors who are looking to break down and assess a company's profitability and outlook.

Earnings Per Share (EPS)

Earnings per share (EPS) speaks to a company's profitability and is one of the most popular metrics that analysts point to when evaluating a stock. It represents a company's net income allotted to each share of its common stock. Companies tend to report EPS that's adjusted for extraordinary items and potential share dilution. Basic EPS is calculated as:

EPS = (net income - preferred stock dividends) ÷ (outstanding shares)

The EPS is 45 cents ($10 million - $1 million) ÷ (20 million shares outstanding) if Company ABC, Inc. has 20 million shares outstanding, has a net income of $10 million, and paid out a dividend of $1 million to its preferred stockholders for the last fiscal year.

Diluted EPS

Basic EPS doesn't factor in the dilutive effect of shares that could be issued by the company but diluted EPS does.

These investments can increase the total number of shares outstanding if the capital structure of a company includes stock options, warrants, and restricted stock units (RSU) and they're exercised. The diluted EPS assumes that all shares that could be outstanding have been issued. This is a more conservative way of using EPS and it's often preferred by analysts compared to non-diluted EPS.

Using EPS

A company's earnings-per-share is an often-watched metric.

Quarterly and annual earnings announcements will be preceded by analysts' estimates of EPS. You can expect the stock to drop if a company misses EPS estimates but a surprise earnings beat can have the opposite effect. In general, the higher the EPS, the better.

Companies have varying numbers of shares outstanding at different prices, however, so a better tool for comparison is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. This is simply a measure of the stock price as a multiple of its EPS. A P/E of 10x means that a stock's price is 10x higher than its EPS. A stock trading $10 would have $1 EPS.

Dividends Per Share (DPS)

Dividends per share (DPS) is the number of declared dividends issued by a company for every ordinary share outstanding. It's the number of dividends each shareholder of a company receives on a per-share basis. Ordinary or common shares are the basic voting shares of a corporation. Shareholders are usually permitted one vote per share and they don't have any predetermined dividend amounts.

Dividends per share is calculated by dividing the total number of dividends paid out by a company, including interim dividends, over a period by the number of shares outstanding. A company's DPS is often derived using the dividend paid in the most recent quarter which is also used to calculate the dividend yield. DPS can be calculated using the formula:

DPS = (total dividends paid out over a period - any special dividends) ÷ (shares outstanding).

Suppose Company XYZ paid $1 million in dividends to its preferred shareholders last year, none of which were special dividends. The company has five million shares outstanding so the DPS for Company XYZ is 0.2 per share.

Using DPS

Dividends per share is often used to estimate a stock's dividend yield calculated as DPS divided by the stock price. The higher the dividend yield, the more profits a company pays out to shareholders on a relative basis. Value investors often seek high-dividend yield stocks.

DPS can also be used for dividend growth stock valuation models such as the Gordon growth model. These models discount the future dividends per share to estimate a fair value per share.

The dividend payout ratio is also a number that some investors consider. It represents the overall portion of profits paid back to shareholders as dividends. The ratio of profits not paid is called the retention ratio.

These ratios indicate how much money a company can put toward growth opportunities. A payout ratio that's too high may signal that a company doesn't see many such opportunities available and it may be a red flag.

Key Differences

Earnings per share demonstrate how profitable a company is by measuring the net income for each outstanding share of the company. EPS is an indication for shareholders of how well a company is performing because it represents the bottom line of a company on a per-share basis. The EPS figure doesn't reflect the cash that shareholders receive, however. It's only an accounting figure.

Dividends per share represent the portion of the company's earnings that's paid out to each shareholder. Increasing DPS is a great way for a company to signal strong performance to its shareholders. For this reason, many companies that pay a dividend focus on adding to the DPS for this reason. Many growth companies do not pay out dividends, however, so EPS is often a more useful metric.

The Bottom Line

Earnings per share (EPS) and dividends per share (DPS) both provide an assessment of a company's profitability. EPS measures how profitable a company is per share of its stock. DPS puts a spotlight on how much of its earnings a company pays out to its shareholders. Both can be solid tools for investors who want to gauge a company’s profitability and future performance.