Earned Surplus
See Retained Earnings

 

Earnings Per Share
Equal to net income divided by the number of shares of a company's stock. Companies commonly disclose two EPS measures, basic EPS and diluted EPS. The diluted earnings per share includes the impact of unexercised stock options that the firm has issued and is the more conservative measure of the two.

 

Earnings Report
A statement of the company's earnings or losses for a particular period, typically a quarter (three months) or a year.

 

EDGAR
An acronym for the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, EDGAR can be found at www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm. EDGAR contains all the financial documents that publicly-traded companies are required by law to file electronically.

 

Efficient Market
A financial theory that believes stock prices instantly reflect all new information.

 

Equity
The investment by shareholders in a company. It is equal to total assets less total liabilities.

 

Equity Investment
Investment into a company via the purchase of the company's stock.

 

Ex-Dividend Date
The date on or after which the purchaser of a particular stock would not be entitled to receive a recently declared dividend.

 

Exercise Price
The price at which an option may be exercised. Also known as the strike price.

 

Expenses
A cost or a deduction from a company's income. A company's total sales less total expenses equals net income.

 

Expiration Date
The day an option contract expires.