Profit Per Share

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Profit per share



Computations of profit per share:	Three Months Ended September 30				Nine Months Ended September 30
(Dollars in millions except per share data)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Profit for the period (A) 1	$	668	$	1,494	$	2,218	$	4,995
Determination of shares (in millions):
Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (B)	542.3		556.3		543.9		565.2
Shares issuable on exercise of stock awards, net of shares assumed to be purchased out of proceeds at average market price	4.1		4.9		3.9		5.6
Average common shares outstanding for fully diluted computation (C) 2	546.4		561.2		547.8		570.8
Profit per share of common stock:
Assuming no dilution (A/B)	$	1.23	$	2.69	$	4.08	$	8.84
Assuming full dilution (A/C) 2	$	1.22	$	2.66	$	4.05	$	8.75
Shares outstanding as of September 30 (in millions)					543.3		552.7

1 Profit attributable to common shareholders.
2 Diluted by assumed exercise of stock-based compensation awards using the treasury stock method.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, we excluded 4.8 million and 3.0 million of outstanding stock options, respectively, 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 September 30, 2020, approximately $4.8 billion remained available under the 2018 Authorization.

For the three months ended September 30, 2020, we did not repurchase any shares of Caterpillar common stock. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we repurchased 10.1 million shares of Caterpillar common stock at an aggregate cost of $1.3 billion. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, we repurchased 10.3 million and 25.8 million shares of Caterpillar common stock, respectively, at an aggregate cost of $1.3 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively. We made these purchases through a combination of accelerated stock repurchase agreements with third-party financial institutions and open market transactions.