In finance circles, the word you are using for "earnings" is usually called "net income" (or "net income for common stockholders"). When people say "earnings" t

In finance circles, the word you are using for "earnings" is usually called "net income" (or "net income for common stockholders"). When people say "earnings" they usually are referring to "earnings per share". In short: net income is total, "earnings" is "per share"