EARNINGS PER SHARE

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Basic earnings per share is computed by dividing net income available to common shareholders by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. For purposes of computing basic earnings per share, any nonvested shares of restricted stock that have been issued by the Company and are contingently returnable to the Company are excluded from the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings per share is computed by dividing net income available to common shareholders by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period increased to include the number of additional shares of common stock that would have been outstanding if the potentially dilutive securities had been issued. Potentially dilutive securities include outstanding stock options, unvested restricted stock and unvested equity-settled RSUs. The dilutive effect of potentially dilutive securities is reflected in diluted earnings per share by application of the treasury stock method.

The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share of common stock as follows:



	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Numerator for basic and diluted earnings per share:
Net income	$	261,057	$	240,256	$	72,760
Numerator for basic and diluted earnings per share	$	261,057	$	240,256	$	72,760

Denominator:
Weighted average common shares for basic earnings per share	54,719,414		53,622,989		52,077,011
Net effect of dilutive stock options, restricted stock units and restricted stock awards	2,948,375		3,049,687		2,907,162
Weighted average common shares for diluted earnings per share	57,667,789		56,672,676		54,984,173

Net Income per share:
Basic	$	4.77	$	4.48	$	1.40
Diluted	$	4.53	$	4.24	$	1.32

The number of shares underlying equity-based awards that were excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per share as their effect would be anti-dilutive was 120,021, 138,639 and 883,350 for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.