EPS and P/E: how to calculate and read them

Earnings per share shows how much a company earns per share, and the price-to-earnings ratio shows how many years of earnings the share price equals.

Updated：2026-11-08

Earnings per share (EPS)

EPS = net income after tax attributable to the parent company’s shareholders ÷ shares outstanding. A quarterly report’s EPS covers only one quarter; adding up the latest four quarters gives the trailing four-quarter EPS.

Price-to-earnings ratio (P/E)

P/E = share price ÷ trailing four-quarter EPS. For example, with a share price of 100 and a trailing four-quarter EPS of 5, the P/E is 20, meaning that at the current share price it is roughly 20 times the earnings of the last four quarters.

• The P/E on this site is the figure published by the exchange each day, calculated with that day’s closing price.
• When the trailing four-quarter EPS is negative (a loss), there is no P/E, which is why the Screener page has a “trailing four-quarter profit” condition.

How to read it

• There is no universal standard for a high or low P/E: growth, industry and the interest-rate environment all affect the multiple the market is willing to give; comparisons within the same industry and across the same company’s history are more meaningful.
• EPS may include one-off non-operating gains and losses, which distort the P/E; in that case read it together with operating income and operating margin.
• The price-to-book ratio (share price ÷ book value per share) is another valuation angle; see “Understanding the balance sheet”.

Where to see it on this site

The Basic tab on a stock page has valuation data; the “Valuation” category on the Screener page offers threshold conditions for P/E, price-to-book ratio and dividend yield, and the numbers can be adjusted.

This article only explains terms and how to calculate them. It is not investment advice.