Profit per share




Computations of profit per share:	Three Months Ended September 30				Nine Months Ended September 30
(Dollars in millions except per share data)	2017		2016		2017		2016
Profit for the period (A) ¹	$	1,059	$	283	$	2,053	$	1,104
Determination of shares (in millions):
Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (B)	592.9		584.7		590.3		583.8
Shares issuable on exercise of stock awards, net of shares assumed to be purchased out of proceeds at average market price	7.2		4.9		6.2		4.9
Average common shares outstanding for fully diluted computation (C)²	600.1		589.6		596.5		588.7
Profit per share of common stock:
Assuming no dilution (A/B)	$	1.79	$	0.48	$	3.48	$	1.89
Assuming full dilution (A/C)²	$	1.77	$	0.48	$	3.44	$	1.88
Shares outstanding as of September 30 (in millions)					594.9		585.1

¹Profit attributable to common shareholders.
²Diluted by assumed exercise of stock-based compensation awards using the treasury stock method.

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, no outstanding SARs and stock options were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share because all outstanding SARs and stock options had a dilutive effect. For the nine months ended September 30, 2017, outstanding SARs and stock options to purchase 5,136,715 common shares were not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because the effect would have been anti-dilutive. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, there were outstanding SARs and stock options to purchase 21,874,118 and 26,088,324 common shares, respectively, which were anti-dilutive.

In January 2014, the Board authorized the repurchase of up to $10.0 billion of Caterpillar common stock, which will expire on December 31, 2018. As of September 30, 2017, approximately $4.5 billion of the $10.0 billion authorization was spent.