Earnings Per Share

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Earnings Per Share [Abstract]

Earnings Per Share

  Earnings per share

Basic earnings per share has been calculated using Net income for the year divided by the weighted-average number of shares outstanding during the year.

Diluted earnings per share has been calculated using the treasury stock method which assumes that any proceeds received from the exercise of in-the-money options would be used to purchase CP Common Shares at the average market price for the period. For purposes of this calculation, at December 31, 2019, there were 1.6 million dilutive options outstanding (2018 – 1.3 million; 2017 – 1.4 million).

The number of shares used and the earnings per share calculations are reconciled as follows:

(in millions of Canadian dollars, except per share data)	2019		2018		2017
Net income	$	2,440	$	1,951	$	2,405
Weighted-average basic shares outstanding (millions)	138.8		142.9		145.9
Dilutive effect of stock options (millions)	0.5		0.4		0.4
Weighted-average diluted shares outstanding (millions)	139.3		143.3		146.3
Earnings per share – basic	$	17.58	$	13.65	$	16.49
Earnings per share – diluted	$	17.52	$	13.61	$	16.44

In 2019, there were no options excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share (2018 – 0.2 million; 2017 – 0.3 million).