Shares Outstanding (Outstanding & Float)
The total number of shares a company has issued — the foundational number that is the denominator of market cap, EPS, and many metrics.
In plain terms
How many slices one pizza (the whole company) is cut into is shares outstanding. The price is "the value of one slice," so to know the whole company's value (market cap) you multiply by the number of slices.
For the same company, cutting into small slices makes one slice (the price) look cheap, while cutting into big slices makes it look expensive. So look not at the price alone but at the slice count to see the company's size.
What it tells you
Price alone cannot tell you a company's size. You have to multiply by shares outstanding to see the market cap and know "what the whole company is worth." So a low price does not mean a "cheap stock" — the company may just be sliced finely so one slice is small.
There is a hidden trap here. The share count, unlike the price, is not shown visibly each day, so when a company issues new stock every year (for employee compensation, etc.), your stake quietly thins. A loss of "the price is the same but my share shrinks" happens out of sight.
Formula
market cap = price × shares outstanding EPS (earnings per share) = net income ÷ shares outstanding (float = the portion of shares outstanding actually tradable in the market)
What high or low means
When the share count rises (a stock issuance or stock compensation, etc.), the portion each existing shareholder's share represents thins. This is called "dilution."
Conversely, when a company buys back and retires its own stock, the share count falls and each share's portion grows. So it matters to keep watching which direction the share count moves.
"Shares outstanding" and "float" differ. Subtract the portion held by large holders and the company from what was issued, and what actually trades in the market is the float. When the float is small, the price swings hard even on light trading.
At a company whose share count only rises year after year, even if profit grows, the per-share portion can stay flat or even fall. So you must always read profit growth together with the change in share count.
The share count is not a fixed value. It rises with issuances and stock compensation and falls with buyback retirements, so it differs by point in time and you should check the latest figure.
Metrics to read alongside
See it in real stocks
Search US stocks on Stocklore to see Shares and other financial metrics alongside the sector average.
This explanation is for information and reference only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investment decisions and their consequences are your own.