Hello everyone, I'm Loopy! Recently, when you open the news, have you been flooded with the brilliant report card from TSMC's earnings call? As Taiwanese, we are certainly no strangers to the movements of our "Silicon Shield," but every time you switch to English financial news and see a bunch of professional terms like "double margins exceeding expectations" and "EPS hitting record highs," does your brain instantly freeze up, making you think, "I understand all of this in Chinese, but how on earth do you say it in English?"
Don't worry! Today, Loopy is going to take everyone along to follow the latest current events while learning the high-frequency vocabulary that most commonly appears in financial news and foreign company meetings all at once. Next time you watch CNBC or read the Wall Street Journal, you'll be able to easily understand and follow along!
How do you say "earnings call" and "exceeding expectations"? Let's warm up with two high-frequency terms!
First, the "法說會" (institutional investor briefing) we often hear about is actually very simple in English. Since this is a meeting where a company reports its performance to investors, the most common term is earnings conference call, or simply earnings call for short.
So, how do we express "double margins exceeding expectations, beating forecasts" as written in news headlines? We can use the terms beat expectations or outperform, which sound highly professional!
- beat expectations
- outperform
People often try to translate "超標" 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?
In financial reports, one of the most indicative figures is "gross margin."
"Gross profit" is gross profit, and "gross profit rate" is gross margin. This indicator represents a company's ability to earn a profit after deducting direct production costs. The reason TSMC is so formidable is that its gross margin has always maintained an extremely high level!
Let's look at how to talk about gross margin in English:
- ✗ Our hair rate is very high. (Note! "Gross" margin has nothing to do with hair!)
- ✓ Our gross margin reached 53.2% this quarter.
- ✓ TSMC has maintained a strong gross margin thanks to its advanced technology.
Operational Indicator: How to use Operating Margin
After looking at gross margin, right next is "operating profit margin," or "operating margin" for short.
The English for this is operating margin. This value deducts the company's operating expenses (such as marketing, R&D, personnel, etc.) and best reflects whether a company's "core business" is actually making money.
In English conversations, we 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 it's retail investors or large foreign institutional investors, what everyone cares about most is absolutely "how much money this company made for its shareholders," which is "earnings per share"!
Its full English name is earnings per share. What you see in the news and talk about in meetings is always referred to directly by its abbreviation EPS (just pronounce the letters E-P-S).
- ✗ How much money did we make per share? (While the meaning is correct, it is not very 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 Method for the Financial Report Trio
Finally, Loopy has organized a super easy-to-remember comparison table for everyone. Next time you read financial news, you can react in a second:
- Gross Margin: Gross means "rough, unprocessed," so the rough estimate of profit after deducting "the most direct costs" is the gross margin.
- Operating Margin: Operate means "to run, to operate," so the profit margin related to "overall company operations" is the operating margin.
- EPS (Earnings Per Share): Earn means "to make money," and Share means "a unit of ownership," so combined it is "the money earned for each share," which is earnings per share.
Once you learn these three keywords, the next time you chat with colleagues about US stocks or read international financial news, you'll be able to converse confidently using the most authentic English! See you next time!