EARNINGS PER COMMON SHARE

Earnings per share is computed after deducting dividends. The Company has granted restricted share awards with dividend rights that are considered to be participating securities. Accordingly, a portion of the Company’s earnings is allocated to those participating securities in the earnings per share calculation. Basic earnings per share is computed by dividing income available to common stockholders after the allocation of dividends and undistributed earnings to the participating securities by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted earnings per share reflects the potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue common stock were exercised, and is computed after giving consideration to the weighted average dilutive effect of the Company’s stock options and after the allocation of earnings to the participating securities. Antidilutive options are disregarded in earnings per share calculations. The share and per share amounts for fiscal year 2018 have been restated to reflect the 3-for-1 forward stock split of the Company's common stock that was effected by the Company on October 4, 2018.

A reconciliation of net income and common stock share amounts used in the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share for the three months ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 is presented below.



Three Months Ended December 31,	2018		2017
(Dollars in Thousands, Except Share and Per Share Data)
Basic income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	15,398	$	4,670
Weighted average common shares outstanding	39,335,054		28,970,334
Basic income per common share	0.39		0.16

Diluted income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	15,398	$	4,670
Weighted average common shares outstanding	39,335,054		28,970,334
Outstanding options - based upon the two-class method	71,453		168,189
Weighted average diluted common shares outstanding	39,406,507		29,138,523
Diluted income per common share	0.39		0.16