Profit Per Share

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Earnings Per Share [Abstract]

Profit Per Share

Profit per share

 

Computations of profit per share:	Three Months Ended March 31
(Dollars in millions except per share data)	2020		2019
Profit for the period (A) 1	$	1,092	$	1,881
Determination of shares (in millions):
Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (B)	546.8		572.4
Shares issuable on exercise of stock awards, net of shares assumed to be purchased out of proceeds at average market price	4.3		6.4
Average common shares outstanding for fully diluted computation (C) 2	551.1		578.8
Profit per share of common stock:
Assuming no dilution (A/B)	$	2.00	$	3.29
Assuming full dilution (A/C) 2	$	1.98	$	3.25
Shares outstanding as of March 31 (in millions)	542.0		571.7
1 Profit attributable to common shareholders.
2 Diluted by assumed exercise of stock-based compensation awards using the treasury stock method.

For the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, 4.9 million and 3.0 million outstanding stock options, respectively, were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share because the effect would have been antidilutive.

In July 2018, the Board approved a share repurchase authorization (the 2018 Authorization) of up to $10.0 billion of Caterpillar common stock effective January 1, 2019, with no expiration. As of March 31, 2020, approximately $4.9 billion remained available under the 2018 Authorization.

During the first three months of 2020 and 2019, we repurchased 9.3 million and 5.7 million shares of Caterpillar common stock, respectively, at an aggregate cost of $1.2 billion and $0.8 billion, respectively. These purchases were made through a combination of accelerated stock repurchase agreements with third-party financial institutions and open market transactions.