Answer: D. The company reissues the treasury stock it holds.
Explanation:
Earnings per share is calculated by dividing the Net Income by the weighted average number of shares that a company has outstanding. If the company reissues treasury stock, this would increase the number of average stock outstanding thereby increasing the denominator of the EPS equation which would have the effect of reducing the Earnings per share.
For instance, if a company had net income of $50 and common equity outstanding of $40, the EPS would be;
= 50/40
= $1.25
If the company reissues treasury stock of $30, the EPS would change to;
= 50/ (40 +30)
= $0.71