If I buy a share I'm in with everyone else

如果我和其他股东一样买了一份股票
who owns the company and I have a claim on the earnings' stream,

那么我就对收益有要求权
but the earnings' stream is a year-by-year thing.

但收益是逐年计算的
It just tells you how well they did in that given year.

它显示了公司某一年的业绩如何
You can see that

你可以看到
the stock market has been more volatile than the earnings

股票市场波动性大于其收益
and the price of a share is many times higher

每股价格往往是
than the earnings per share.

每股收益的几倍之多
So, typically the ratio of price-to-earnings has been about fifteen.

市盈率一般来说是为15
That means that people will pay up front for

这意味着人们需要预先支付
about fifteen years' earnings.

15年的收益
Earnings and dividends are different;

收益和股利是不同的