Earnings Per Common Share

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Earnings per Common Share

Basic earnings per common share (“EPS”) are calculated using the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during each period. A reconciliation of the numerators and denominators of the basic and diluted EPS calculations follows.



	Years Ended December 31,
(In thousands, except per share data)	2019		2018		2017
Numerator:
Net income	$	578,276	$	487,476	$	288,934
Preferred stock dividends	16,837		15,640		15,714
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	561,439	$	471,836	$	273,220
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	427,292		435,054		431,216
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance stock units and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾	3,382		4,627		7,335
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	430,674		439,681		438,551

Basic earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	1.31	$	1.08	$	0.63

Diluted earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	1.30	$	1.07	$	0.62

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⁽¹⁾	Includes the potential dilutive effect of additional common shares that are issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance stock units and the outstanding commitment to issue shares under the ESPP, determined by the treasury stock method.

⁽²⁾

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, securities covering no shares, less than 1 million shares and no shares, respectively, were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.