U.S. GAAP guidance on Earnings Per Share (“EPS”) establishes standards for computing and presenting EPS. Basic EPS excludes dilution and is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding and contingent shares for which all necessary conditions have been satisfied except for the passage of time. Net income (loss) is allocated to the Company’s outstanding common stock, FPUs, limited partnership units and Cantor units (see Note 2—“Limited Partnership Interests in BGC Holdings and Newmark Holdings”).

The following is the calculation of the Company’s basic EPS from continuing and discontinued operations (in thousands, except per share data):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2019		2018
Basic earnings (loss) per share:
Net income (loss) from continuing operations available to common stockholders	$	61,868	$	43,998
Net income (loss) from discontinued operations available to common stockholders		—		14,776
Net income (loss) available to common stockholders	$	61,868	$	58,774
Basic weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding		338,403		307,728
Continuing operations	$	0.18	$	0.14
Discontinued operations		—		0.05
Basic earnings (loss) per share	$	0.18	$	0.19

Fully diluted EPS is calculated utilizing net income (loss) available to common stockholders plus net income allocations to the limited partnership interests as the numerator. The denominator comprises of the Company’s weighted-average number of outstanding BGC shares of common stock and, if dilutive, the weighted-average number of limited partnership interests and other contracts to issue shares of BGC common stock, including RSUs. The limited partnership interests generally are potentially exchangeable into shares of BGC Class A common stock (see Note 2—“Limited Partnership Interests in BGC Holdings and Newmark Holdings”) and are entitled to remaining earnings after the deduction for the Preferred Distribution; as a result, they are included in the fully diluted EPS computation to the extent that the effect would be dilutive.

The following is the calculation of the Company’s fully diluted EPS from continuing operations (in thousands, except per share data):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2019		2018
Fully diluted (loss) earnings per share
Net income (loss) from continuing operations available to common stockholders	$	61,868	$	43,998
Allocations of net income (loss) to limited partnership interests, net of tax		28,897		20,773
Net income (loss) for fully diluted shares	$	90,765	$	64,771
Weighted-average shares:
Common stock outstanding		338,403		307,728
Partnership units¹		176,072		169,218
RSUs (Treasury stock method)		179		604
Other		1,412		1,385
Fully diluted weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding		516,066		478,935
Fully diluted earnings (loss) per share from continuing operations	$	0.18	$	0.14

¹	Partnership units collectively include founding/working partner units, limited partnership units, and Cantor units (see Note 2—“Limited Partnership Interests in BGC Holdings and Newmark Holdings” for more information).

For the three months ended March 31, 2019, approximately 0.4 million potentially dilutive securities were excluded from the computation of fully diluted EPS from continuing operations, for being anti-dilutive. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, there were no potentially dilutive securities excluded from the computation of fully diluted EPS from continuing operations, for being anti-dilutive.

The following is the calculation of the Company’s fully diluted EPS from discontinued operations (in thousands, except per share data):

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2018
Fully diluted (loss) earnings per share
Net income (loss) from discontinued operations available to common stockholders	$	14,776
Allocations of net income (loss) to limited partnership interests, net of tax		9,113
Net income (loss) for fully diluted shares	$	23,889
Weighted-average shares:
Common stock outstanding		307,728
Partnership units¹		169,218
RSUs (Treasury stock method)		604
Other		1,385
Fully diluted weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding		478,935
Fully diluted earnings (loss) per share from discontinued operations	$	0.05

1	Partnership units collectively include founding/working partner units, limited partnership units, and Cantor units (see Note 2—“Limited Partnership Interests in BGC Holdings and Newmark Holdings” for more information).

For the three months ended March 31, 2018, there were no potentially dilutive securities excluded from the computation of fully diluted EPS from discontinued operations, for being anti-dilutive.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019 there were no standalone BGC Holdings partnership units excluded from the fully diluted EPS weighted-average computation from continuing and discontinued operations. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, there were 5.5 million of standalone BGC Holdings partnership units excluded from the fully diluted EPS weighted-average computation from continuing and discontinued operations because the conversion into Class A common stock was contingent on the Newmark Spin-Off (see Note 2—“Limited Partnership Interests in BGC Holdings and Newmark Holdings” for further information on standalone BGC Holdings partnership units). Additionally, as of March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, approximately 1.4 million and 3.1 million shares of contingent Class A common stock and limited partnership units were excluded from the fully diluted EPS computations from continuing and discontinued operations because the conditions for issuance had not been met by the end of the respective periods.