Earnings Per Share

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Note 5 Earnings Per Share

Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders is computed by dividing Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders by the weighted average number of Common Shares outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders is computed by dividing Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders by the weighted average number of Common Shares outstanding during the period adjusted to include the effects of potentially dilutive securities. Potentially dilutive securities primarily include incremental shares issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options and the vesting of performance and restricted stock units.

The amounts used in computing earnings per common share and the effects of potentially dilutive securities on the weighted average number of Common Shares were as follows:



	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2019		2018		2019		2018
(Dollars and shares in millions, except per share amounts)
Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders	$	23	$	36	$	109	$	129

Weighted average number of shares used in basic earnings per share	86		86		87		85
Effects of dilutive securities	2		1		1		1
Weighted average number of shares used in diluted earnings per share	88		87		88		86

Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders	$	0.27	$	0.42	$	1.26	$	1.51

Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders	$	0.27	$	0.41	$	1.24	$	1.49

Certain Common Shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options or vesting of performance and restricted stock units were not included in average diluted shares outstanding for the calculation of Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders because their effects were antidilutive. The number of such Common Shares excluded was 1 million and less than 1 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively, and 2 million and 3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively.