Why do they do it? Why can’t they just speak normally?
Why do they have to use buzzwords like “give me some color on that”?
I’m amazed the management is able to comprehend some of the things these analysts say. It’s not that the concepts are difficult to understand – just they word it in such an incomprehensible way.
‘give me some color on that’ sounds a lot better than ‘why is this doing so sh*tty’ when you’re asking the C class execs of a company 
It becomes impossible not to be like that after you have been an analyst for a while. Impossible.
its just the language of the industry…you’ll get use to it…
It’s not as bad as diplomat-speak.
in my opinion, analyst rarely ask the tough questions during a call…they usually save that for private meetings with mgt and buyside guys…
True story. For most companies, the call is a kind of public relations event. They don’t want to talk about anything their competitors can listen in to.
This times a bajillion. Earnings call is mostly for hearing the results, but my ‘good questions’ will probably not be asked by hitting #3 and waiting my turn; we’ll schedule a private call later that day or week.
Well, how can you justify those inflated salaries without throwing a few buzzwords in?
Unless you’ve got David Einhorn on your call.
Well, he’s a guy on the buy side who happens to run his own hedge fund. I think they have a little bit more leeway (e.g,. not severing potential undwerwriting relationships down the road).
from what i heard, Einhorn was asking some very very basic questions anyways…its more like “einhorn asks something!!”…
Yes, it was a non-event. People overreacted because it’s David Einhorn.
sounds sexual to me…
From the Devon Q2 call from http://seekingalpha.com/article/771211-devon-energy-management-discusses-q2-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single:
Why “appetite”? Why “war chest”?
How about just saying “interest” or “a lot of money” like a normal person?
From the same transcript:
This looks like something you’d see in a GMAT prep book, showing what bad writing looks like. Granted, this is what someone is saying out loud, but it is still terrible. Many analysts talk like this and the managements are rarely that bad.
Just curious, but what is your background? Have you ever worked at a large corporation before? Many people speak like this. When I first got into consulting, I thought it was consultant lingo. Then I learned i-bankers use the same words as well as equity analysts.
Nobody says a lot of money. That is a noobish term. At best you would say “a lot of capital” or “a lot of cash.” But realistically, war chest = pro term. I fully support the use of the phrase “war chest” and plan to start using it as often as possible now.
My name is not Bob Brackett btw.
Management is not bad because they read prepared scripts that have been vetted by attorneys.
nothing wrong with that ingo…
It’s just the language of the profession. If you hear fund manager calls they all sound like that.
OTOH I plan on talking like CFAvMBA when I become a fund manager.
I would say that the phrase ‘war chest’ can only mean 1 thing; the analyst is talking about the majority of the firm’s money and it is a lot of money. If you just say ‘a lot of money’, that doesn’t really mean anything, the firm could have a lot of money sitting anywhere.
The word ‘apettite’ is one I use in most of my papers. The word ‘interest’ could be construed in a way that means the firm wants to move into that sector.
This lingo is perfrectly normal, very common and also ensures accuracy in speech.