By Andy Nugent, CFA® Every quarter, publicly listed companies report their earnings per share. The investing world waits anxiously for these numbers, asking, “Will the number be higher than expected? Will they beat their guidance? Does it matter?” Earnings per share is the most easily manipulated number on the income statement. Depending on the accounting method, a company can sway the true earnings in several ways. Let’s look at how that happens and an alternative approach t