Hello everyone, I'm Loopy! Lately, whenever you open the news, have you been flooded with reports on TSMC's impressive earnings report? TSMC — Taiwan's chip-making giant, known locally as the "sacred mountain that protects the nation" — is a pillar of Taiwan's economy, and its every move tends to make headlines. But whenever you switch to English financial news and see a bunch of technical terms like "margins beating expectations" or "record-high EPS," do you instantly feel tied up in knots, thinking, "I understand all of this in Chinese, but how on earth do I say it in English?"
Don't worry! Today, Loopy is going to walk you through the latest current events while helping you master the high-frequency vocabulary that appears most often in financial news and foreign company meetings. Next time you watch CNBC or read The Wall Street Journal, you'll be able to understand it all with ease!
How to say "earnings conference" and "exceed expectations"? Let's warm up with two high-frequency terms!
First, the common term "法說會" (institutional investor conference) is actually very simple in English. Since it is a meeting where a company reports its performance to investors, the most common phrasing is earnings conference call, or simply earnings call.
So, how do you express "margins beating expectations" or "surpassing expectations" as seen in news headlines? You can use the phrases beat expectations or outperform, which sound extremely professional!
- beat expectations
- outperform
Learners often try to translate "exceeding standards" literally as over standard, which sounds a bit confusing to native speakers.
- ✗ The performance is over standard.
- ✓ The performance beat expectations.
- ✓ TSMC's Q2 results outperformed market expectations.
The Key Code: How to look at Gross Margin?
One of the most benchmark metrics in financial reports is "gross margin."
"Gross profit" in English is gross profit, and "gross margin rate" is gross margin. This metric represents a company's ability to earn a profit after deducting direct production costs. Part of what makes TSMC so incredible is that its gross margin has consistently remained at an extremely high level!
Let's take a look at how to discuss gross margin in English:
- ✗ Our hair rate is very high. (Note! "Gross" has nothing to do with hair, despite the Chinese character "毛"!)
- ✓ Our gross margin reached 53.2% this quarter.
- ✓ TSMC has maintained a strong gross margin thanks to its advanced technology.
Operating Indicator: How to use Operating Margin
After looking at gross margin, the next key metric is "operating profit margin," often shortened to "operating margin."
The English term for operating margin is operating margin. This figure deducts the company's operating expenses (such as marketing, R&D, and personnel), making it the best reflector of whether a company's "core business" is actually making money.
In English conversation, you can use it like this:
- ✗ The work rate is improving. ("Operating margin" is not work rate!)
- ✓ The company's operating margin improved due to effective cost control.
- ✓ A higher operating margin indicates better managerial efficiency.
Investor Favorite: EPS (Earnings Per Share)
Finally, whether for retail investors or major foreign institutions, the metric everyone cares about most is definitely "how much money the company made for its shareholders"—that is, "earnings per share"!
Its full name in English is earnings per share, and what you see in the news and hear in meetings is simply its abbreviation, EPS (pronounced by saying the letters E-P-S).
- ✗ How much money did we make per share? (Although the meaning is correct, it doesn't sound very professional or business-like.)
- ✓ TSMC reported a record-high EPS for the second quarter.
- ✓ Investors are highly focused on the projected EPS for the next fiscal year.
Loopy's "One-Second Judgment Trick": Quick Memory Guide for the Financial Report Trio
Finally, Loopy has put together a super easy-to-remember comparison list so you can recognize these terms in a second the next time you read financial news:
- Gross Margin: Gross means "rough" or "unprocessed," so the roughly estimated profit after deducting the "most direct costs" is the gross margin.
- Operating Margin: Operate refers to "running operations," so the profit margin related to the "overall operations of the company" is the operating margin.
- EPS (Earnings Per Share): Earn means "to make money," and Share refers to "stock shares," so combined it means "the money earned per share," which is earnings per share.
Once you master these three key terms, the next time you chat with colleagues about US stocks or read international financial news, you'll be able to converse confidently using authentic English! See you next time!