BioCube, Inc. (BICB)

[No1Uknow]

Shares outstanding refers to the number of shares of common stock that investors currently own and are used to calculate many common financial metrics, such as earnings per share and market capitalization. The number of outstanding shares can be found on a company's most recent 10-Q or 10-K, or on its balance sheet in the shareholders' equity section, but to fully understand where this number comes from and why it's useful, you should also know several other ways to describe how many shares a company has.

Many different share counts
To understand where shares outstanding comes from, there are a few other terms you should be aware of.

Authorized shares: the total number of shares a company could issue.
Issued shares: how many shares have ever actually been traded. This includes any shares that the company has bought back and now holds in its treasury (that is, treasury shares).
Float: the number of shares available to be traded by the public. Excludes any restricted shares, or shares held by company officers or insiders.