Computation of Earnings Per Share

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Earnings Per Share [Text Block]

9 — COMPUTATION OF EARNINGS PER SHARE

Basic earnings per share (“EPS”) is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares of Common Stock outstanding for the period. Diluted EPS reflects the potential dilution of securities that could share in earnings. When the impact of common share equivalents is antidilutive, they are excluded from the calculation.

The following table sets forth the reconciliation of the basic and diluted earnings per share computations (in thousands, except per share amounts) for the years ended December 31:

	2012		2011		2010
Numerator:
Net income used for calculating basic and diluted earnings per common share	$	165,903	$	136,902	$	96,285
Denominator: (1)
Weighted average number of common shares used in the calculation of basic earnings per share		93,444		96,019		95,747
Common share equivalents associated with stock-based compensation plans		2,398		2,827		4,087
Shares used in the calculation of diluted earnings per share		95,842		98,846		99,834
Earnings per share:
Basic	$	1.78	$	1.43	$	1.01
Diluted	$	1.73	$	1.39	$	0.96

(1) During 2012, 2011 and 2010, the Company repurchased 2.7 million, 5.9 million, and 3.9 million shares of its Common Stock, respectively.

The following table presents the number of common share equivalents that were not included in the computation of diluted EPS in the table above because the effect would have been antidilutive. During periods with net income, these common share equivalents were antidilutive because their exercise price was greater than the average market value of a share of Common Stock during the period.

	2012		2011		2010
Antidilutive common share equivalents as of December 31 (in millions):		0.7		0.5		0.5
Average market price per share of Common Stock during the year	$	43.80	$	37.53	$	26.35