Outstanding shares refer to the number of stocks that a company has issued. The outstanding shares formula is represented as issued shares minus shares held in the company's treasury or treasury stock.The formula for calculating the shares outstanding consists of subtracting the shares repurchased from the total shares issued to date. The number of shares outstanding for a company is equal to the number of shares issued minus the number of shares held in the company's treasury. What are Outstanding Shares? The formula is total issued shares minus treasury shares. Here's how to find that number.