Net Income per Common Share

Basic net income per common share is computed by dividing net income (after deducting the applicable preferential Class A Common Stock dividends) by the weighted average Common Shares outstanding of 52,596 for fiscal 2019, 51,677 for fiscal 2018, and 51,056 for fiscal 2017. The Company utilizes the two-class method to calculate income per share.

Reconciliations of the numerator and denominator of the basic and diluted per share computations for the Company’s Class A and Class B common stock are summarized as follows:



	Years ended July 31,
	2019			2018			2017
Numerator (in thousands):
Income (Numerator for basic and diluted income per Class A Nonvoting Common Share)	$	131,258		$	91,060		$	95,645
Less:
Preferential dividends	(815		)	(799		)	(788		)
Preferential dividends on dilutive stock options	(13		)	(14		)	(14		)
Numerator for basic and diluted income per Class B Voting Common Share	$	130,430		$	90,247		$	94,843
Denominator (in thousands):
Denominator for basic income per share for both Class A and Class B	52,596			51,677			51,056
Plus: Effect of dilutive equity awards	727			847			900
Denominator for diluted income per share for both Class A and Class B	53,323			52,524			51,956
Net income per Class A Nonvoting Common Share:
Basic	$	2.50		$	1.76		$	1.87
Diluted	$	2.46		$	1.73		$	1.84
Net income per Class B Voting Common Share:
Basic	$	2.48		$	1.75		$	1.86
Diluted	$	2.45		$	1.72		$	1.83

Options to purchase 372,255, 751,200, and 669,036 shares of Class A Nonvoting Common Stock for the fiscal years ended July 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively, were not included in the computation of diluted net income per share as the impact of the inclusion of the options would have been anti-dilutive.