Many companies buy back shares as part of their capital allocation strategy. When a company buys back its own shares, that stock is accounted for as "treasury stock" on its balance sheet. Treasury stock is no longer outstanding -- the company itself now owns it, not an investor or employee, but it has still been issued.
Let's say that Helpful Fool Company has repurchased 500 shares in this year's buyback program. The company now has 5,000 authorized shares, 2,000 issued, 500 in treasury stock, and 1,500 outstanding. The outstanding stock is equal to the issued stock minus the treasury stock.
Thanks to the SEC, common stock outstanding is straightforward to calculate
All companies must report their common stock outstanding on their balance sheet. The easiest way to calculate the number is to simply look it up. You can do that by navigating to the company's investor-relations webpage, finding its financial reporting, and opening up its most recent 10-Q or 10-K filing. The same can be done on the SEC's website as well.
From there, scroll down until you find the section in the 10-Q or 10-K called "Capital Stock." All the details you need will be there. You'll also see the various other stock categories, so don't let that confuse you. One possible point of confusion we still need to mention is stock given to employees as compensation, typically in some combination of restricted stock, options, or equity grants. That stock should be included in the common stock outstanding figure.
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