Keystone Enterprises just announced record 2014 EPS of $5.00, up $0.25 from last year. This is the

Question:

Keystone Enterprises just announced record 2014 EPS of $5.00, up $0.25 from last year. This is the 10th consecutive year that the company has increased its EPS, an enviable record.
Unfortunately, management fears that this string of EPS increases is about to be broken. Keystone is forecasting net income for 2015 and 2016 at $10 million each year, the same level earned in 2014. The company has 2,000,000 shares of outstanding, no preferred stock, and no convertible debt.

Required:
1. How many common shares does Keystone need to buy back at the beginning of 2015 and 2016 to maintain EPS growth of $0.25 per share each year? (Note: Keystone will use excess cash from operations to pay for the stock.)
2. Explain why your answer to requirement 1 would change if the buybacks were to occur in the middle of each year.
3. Why do you think Keystone’s management would be concerned about maintaining the company’s record of EPS growth?

Common Stock
Common stock is an equity component that represents the worth of stock owned by the shareholders of the company. The common stock represents the par value of the shares outstanding at a balance sheet date. Public companies can trade their stocks on...