Understanding the Game:
Earnings Per Share is like dividing the total goals scored by the number of people who own a piece of the team. Just like each goal increases the team's success, each dollar of earnings increases the company's success.
So, if the team scores 100 goals in a season and there are 50 people who own a share, then the "Earnings Per Goal" (akin to Earnings Per Share) would be 2 goals per person. Similarly, if a company makes $100 million in earnings and has 50 million shares, the EPS would be $2 per share.
This number helps people decide if owning a part of the team (or company) is a good deal. High EPS often means the team is scoring a lot and everyone owning a part of the team gets to celebrate more goals (or in the company's case, more profit).