Revenue per Share

Category

Ratios

Units

Currency per share

Formula

Revenue / Shares Outstanding

Source

Calculated by GeminIQ from figures reported in SEC filings

Revenue per share is a company's total revenue for a period divided by its number of common shares outstanding. It shows how much in sales the business generates for each share, regardless of whether those sales are profitable.

It is also called sales per share. Because revenue is positive even when a company loses money, the measure works for businesses where earnings-based ratios cannot be used.

Revenue per share is calculated from figures reported in SEC filings. Revenue comes from the top of the income statement, reported under Regulation S-X Rule 5-03.1 (Net sales and gross revenues) and commonly tagged Revenues or RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax in XBRL. The share count is either the weighted-average number of shares for the period or shares outstanding at the period end; conventions vary between data providers, so check which is used before comparing figures.

Under ASC 606, revenue is reported net of expected returns and discounts, and companies may elect to exclude sales taxes they collect from customers. How a company recognizes revenue as principal versus agent can change the top line materially: a business reporting gross sales will show much higher revenue per share than an otherwise identical one reporting only its net fee. Share buybacks raise revenue per share without any change in sales, while issuing stock lowers it, so compare the growth rate of revenue per share with the growth rate of total revenue.

The ratio is the denominator of the price-to-sales multiple, which analysts use for early-stage, cyclical, or temporarily unprofitable companies. It is most informative within an industry, since margins differ widely between sectors. A retailer and a software company with the same revenue per share can be worth very different amounts.