Contrarian Corpus

59 documents showing 1–59

Citron Research 2026-03-01

Credit Acceptance Corporation CACC

Citron reverses course on CACC: with CFPB/NYAG overhang resolved Feb 13 2026, 61% of float retired, and an Amazon-bred CEO, fair value is $714 (16x 2026E EPS of $44.62).

N4 V3 C3
Kerrisdale Capital 2025-04-01

D-Wave Quantum Inc QBTS

D-Wave's quantum annealing is a commercial dead end, its 'hybrid' solvers are almost entirely classical, and at 57x 2026E revenue the stock will collapse as reality sets in.

N4 V3 C2
Elliott Management 2025-03-06

Phillips 66 PSX

Phillips 66's refining kit rivals Valero's, but weak commercial execution and bloated corporate leave a multi-dollar EBITDA-per-barrel gap that Streamline66 — portfolio fixes and a refreshed board — closes.

N4 V4 C4
Oasis Management 2025-02-26

Kao Corporation 4452 JT

Kao's world-class beauty brands are squandered by an insular Japanese board; adding five global FMCG outside directors and performance-linked pay can close the gap to L'Oreal and Beiersdorf.

N4 V2 C1
Engine Capital 2025-01-17

Smiths Group plc SMIN

Smiths' four-segment conglomerate structure masks a ~50-60% SOTP discount; the Board should launch a strategic review to sell the company or spin John Crane into a U.S. listing.

N4 V2 C2
Pershing Square 2025-01-16

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FNMA / FMCC

Treasury's warrants and residual stake could generate ~$300bn for taxpayers over time

N5 V4 C4
Pershing Square 2025-01-16

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac (GSEs) FNMA / FMCC

Releasing GSEs from conservatorship could generate ~$300bn for taxpayers via Treasury warrants

N5 V4 C3
Starboard Value 2024-08-01

Autodesk, Inc. ADSK

Autodesk's premier software franchise is squandered under CEO Anagnost — peer-lagging margins, missed Investor Day targets and manipulated billings demand a Board-led overhaul to unlock 45% operating margins.

N4 V3 C3
Muddy Waters 2024-07-23

Eurofins Scientific SE ERF

Eurofins' €556m 'excess cash' earned just 1.42% vs banks' quoted ~2.88%, echoing the NMC Health fraud tell; only radical disclosure on cash, entities, and Dr. Martin's real estate can clear it.

N4 V2 C2
Oasis Management 2024-04-25

Kao Corporation 4452.JP

Kao has top-decile brands (Curel, Biore, Molton Brown) but bottom-decile management with a 'growth allergy' — fixing it Beiersdorf-style unlocks 76-97% upside.

N4 V4 C4
Trian Partners 2024-02-01

The Walt Disney Company DIS

Disney squandered a winning hand through a weak, unfocused Board; electing Peltz and Rasulo brings the shareholder mindset needed to reverse years of TSR underperformance.

N3 V3 C3
Starboard Value 2024-01-31

GoDaddy Inc. GDDY

GoDaddy is a high-quality infrastructure business trading at a wide FCF-multiple discount; committing to 40% growth-plus-profitability and buying back stock unlocks $170-$200+ per share.

N3 V2 C2
Muddy Waters 2024-01-25

CPI Property Group S.A. CPIPGR

CPI PG's Italian landbank and St. Tropez villa deals show ~€100M in unexplained cash and receivables gaps, suggesting controlling shareholder Vitek is using bondholder money to strip assets and launder cash.

N4 V3 C2
Muddy Waters 2024-01-22

CPI Property Group S.A. CPIPGR

Muddy Waters is short CPI Property Group's credit: its €19.2B portfolio appears inflated via implausible Berlin gains, cherry-picked Bubny landbank comps, and occupancy rates realtor listings show are overstated by ~2x.

N4 V3 C3
Muddy Waters 2023-12-06

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. BXMT

BXMT's borrowers only stay current because of expiring rate swaps; as ~$16B of swaps terminate in 2024, dividend cuts of 33-85% and $2.5-4.5B of loan losses could wipe out the $4B market cap.

N4 V2 C2
Starboard Value 2023-10-18

GoDaddy Inc. GDDY

GoDaddy is a scale-leading infrastructure business trading at 11x FCF; replaying Starboard's Splunk/Wix/Salesforce margin-expansion playbook can close a 37% peer gap and re-rate the stock.

N4 V3 C3
Starboard Value 2023-10-17

GoDaddy GDDY

GoDaddy missed its 2022 Investor Day commitments as Tech & Development costs ballooned; cutting costs to hit 33%+ EBITDA margins re-rates FCF/share to $10+ and closes the peer-multiple gap.

N3 V3 C3
Starboard Value 2023-10-17

GoDaddy, News Corp, Fortrea

Starboard pitches three ideas: News Corp should separate Digital Real Estate to unlock ~50% upside, GoDaddy should expand margins to 33%+, and Fortrea can hit 18% peer margins under Tom Pike.

N4 V3 C3
Starboard Value 2023-09-12

GoDaddy Inc. GDDY

GoDaddy has missed its 2022 Investor Day targets as Tech & Dev expenses ballooned; cutting costs to a 40% growth+profitability exit rate and adding a Starboard director unlocks a ~40% valuation re-rating.

N4 V3 C2
Muddy Waters 2023-06-07

Chinook Therapeutics KDNY

Chinook manipulated 2021-2022 revenues via its Chinese JV SanReno; strip out the accounting tricks and reported revenue collapses by 95% and 68% respectively, reinforcing our short.

N4 V2 C1
Land & Buildings 2023-06-01

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. ARE

Alexandria's life-science office portfolio is being hit by the same WFH hurricane as traditional offices, and shares face 30-40% downside if re-rated to coastal office REIT peers.

N3 V4 C4
Greenlight Capital 2023-05-09

Vitesco Technologies VTSC

Vitesco trades at €2.6B EV — less than its ICE business alone is worth (€2.9-4.3B at peer multiples); buy the stock and get the high-growth EV-powertrain unit for free.

N5 V3 C2
Starboard Value 2023-05-05

LivePerson, Inc. LPSN

LivePerson's Founder-CEO LoCascio has destroyed value and ignored governance; Starboard is launching a 2023 proxy fight to force a CEO change or sale of the company.

N4 V2 C2
Bluebell Capital 2023-04-12

Glencore Plc GLEN

Glencore's unsolicited Teck bid is structurally flawed; Glencore should first demerge thermal coal, Oil Marketing and Viterra, then merge with Teck to unlock a world-class transition-metals leader.

N4 V1 C1
TCI Fund 2023-01-20

Alphabet GOOGL

Alphabet's January layoffs are a start but insufficient; management must cut headcount ~20% to 150,000 and slash excessive pay, including stock-based comp.

N3 V1 C1
TCI Fund 2022-11-15

Alphabet GOOGL

Alphabet's cost base is bloated — headcount up 20% CAGR since 2017, pay 67% above Microsoft, Other Bets bleeding $20bn; cut costs, target a 40% Google Services margin, and buy back stock aggressively.

N4 V3 C2
Kerrisdale Capital 2022-09-01

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. ASTS

AST SpaceMobile is a $1.8bn 2021-SPAC promoting a physically implausible direct-to-handset satellite broadband dream; the technology won't work as hyped, timelines keep slipping, and SpaceX/Apple competition eliminates any lead.

N4 V2 C2
Muddy Waters 2022-08-25

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital HASI

HASI is 'dumb money' in renewables JVs — sponsors cash out while HASI books non-cash HLBV income on investments unlikely to ever pay out, inflating reported earnings over real economics.

N4 V2 C1
Muddy Waters 2022-07-12

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital HASI

HASI is a short: its GAAP and non-GAAP 'Distributable Earnings' are inflated by three non-cash accounting tricks and roundtripped SunStrong loans, masking a cash-losing, capital-raise-dependent business.

N4 V2 C1
Engine Capital 2022-03-22

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt HMHC

Veritas's $21/share buyout of Houghton Mifflin steals the company for 7.6x 2024 UFCF; reject it and execute a standalone Dutch tender recap to reach ~$42 by 2024.

N4 V3 C3
Starboard Value 2022-03-03

Huntsman Corporation HUN

Huntsman underperformed the S&P 500 by 337% from IPO to Starboard's involvement

N5 V4 C4
Pershing Square 2022-02-11

Pershing Square Holdings (fund-level annual update; covers portfolio including Lowe's, Universal Music Group, Hilton, Chipotle, Restaurant Brands, Howard Hughes, Domino's, Netflix, PSTH) PSH

PSH delivered 26.9% NAV return in 2021 and 50.1% 3-yr CAGR, outperforming activist and equity hedge indices

N2 V3 C2
Starboard Value 2022-01-13

Mercury Systems, Inc. MRCY

Rights Plan is not in the best interests of Mercury Systems shareholders

N2 V2 C1
Starboard Value 2022-01-12

Huntsman Corporation HUN

Three consecutive Investor Days (2014, 2016, 2018) missed EBITDA targets by hundreds of millions

N4 V2 C2
Muddy Waters 2021-12-16

KE Holdings BEKE

BEKE is systemic fraud: platform scraping and field work show new-home GTV inflated ~126%, revenues inflated 77-96%, with ghost stores, clone stores, and a sham acquisition masking the deception.

N5 V2 C2
Kerrisdale Capital 2021-12-01

Astra Space, Inc. ASTR

Astra is a SPAC-bubble rocket company with no revenue, an undersized non-reusable vehicle, and fantastical 300-launch-a-year forecasts; shares should tumble back to the ground.

N4 V3 C3
Land & Buildings 2021-11-01

REIT sector (thematic)

REITs hedge inflation, but only short-lease high-margin sectors — residential, self-storage, warehouses — work; office and net lease are bond-like losers in a 6%+ CPI world.

N3 V3 C3
Muddy Waters 2021-09-15

Danimer Scientific DNMR

DNMR is a post-SPAC bioplastics story whose 'sold-out' demand, $200M take-or-pay contracts, and $1 trillion TAM are misrepresentations — actual utilization is ~28% and Novomer is a Hail Mary.

N4 V2 C1
Starboard Value 2021-08-16

Box, Inc. BOX

Box has chronically lagged peers and entrenched itself via an unnecessary $500M KKR preferred financing; electing Starboard's minority slate restores stockholder accountability and unlocks long-term value.

N4 V2 C1
Starboard Value 2021-08-06

Box, Inc. BOX

Box is a best-of-breed cloud content platform that has missed every revenue target since IPO; a reconstituted board can fix go-to-market execution and close a massive valuation gap to peers.

N4 V3 C3
Kerrisdale Capital 2021-07-01

Acutus Medical Inc. AFIB

N3 V3 C3
Muddy Waters 2021-05-24

Solutions 30 S30

EY's refusal to sign Solutions 30's 2020 audit — after S30 blocked access to information on suspect transactions — confirms Muddy Waters' two-year-old fraud and money-laundering thesis.

N4 V1 C1
Starboard Value 2021-05-20

Box, Inc. BOX

Box's board issued $500m of KKR preferred to lock up >10% of the vote and entrench itself ahead of Starboard's proxy contest — Starboard demands the books and four new directors.

N3 V1 C1
Greenlight Capital 2021-05-12

Teck Resources TECK

Teck is the overlooked pick-axes play on the EV/green-electrification copper boom — QB2 doubles its copper mix and at forward-curve copper the stock is worth ~C$59, nearly double.

N4 V2 C2
Starboard Value 2021-05-10

Box, Inc. BOX

Box has underperformed cloud peers for years despite engagement, and the Board just cut a dilutive financing to 'buy the vote' — Starboard nominates four directors to force real transformation.

N3 V1 C1
Starboard Value 2021-05-03

Box, Inc. BOX

After a failed 2020 settlement, Starboard will nominate directors at Box's 2021 Annual Meeting, citing missed growth targets and a $500M convertible preferred it calls a 'buy the vote' scheme.

N3 V2 C1
Muddy Waters 2021-03-10

XL Fleet XL

XL Fleet's March 8 rebuttal fails to deny Muddy Waters' core claims — exaggerated pipeline, ~10% reorder rate, overstated fuel savings — confirming XL is SPAC trash.

N3 V1 C1
Muddy Waters 2021-03-03

XL Fleet Corp XL

XL Fleet is SPAC trash: salespeople were paid to fabricate pipeline, most touted customers are inactive, ROI is actually negative, and the stock is worth a fraction of its billion-dollar SPAC valuation.

N5 V3 C3
Ancora 2021-02-16

Forward Air Corporation FWRD

Forward Air's acquisition-led growth strategy has decimated its core LTL margins; Ancora's nominees will restore operating discipline and unlock ~50% upside to $130-$135/share.

N4 V2 C2
Starboard Value 2021-01-21

Corteva, Inc. CTVA

Corteva's spin-off potential is squandered by CEO Jim Collins and a complacent Board; Starboard nominates eight directors to force leadership change and unlock operating value.

N3 V2 C1
Land & Buildings 2020-12-01

Multiple REIT subsectors (urban office, retail, business hotels, movie theaters)

Post-vaccine pent-up demand will mask permanent secular damage in urban office, retail, business hotels, and movie theaters — investors should sell the mirage, not buy it.

N4 V2 C2
Land & Buildings 2020-05-19

D.R. Horton and Invitation Homes DHI/INVH

COVID-19 has supercharged the suburban single-family thesis; entry-level homebuilder D.R. Horton and single-family rental REIT Invitation Homes trade 20%+ below highs despite accelerating demand.

N3 V2 C2
Elliott Management 2020-05-12

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALXN

Alexion's stand-alone strategy has failed — serial M&A missteps and a deep valuation discount mean the Board must pursue a sale now to unlock 40-50% upside for shareholders.

N5 V3 C3
Starboard Value 2018-12-10

Cars.com Inc. CARS

Starboard, a ~10% holder, warns Cars.com's board that serial guide-downs must end with credible 2019-2021 targets, a third independent director, and — absent improvement — management change or a sale.

N4 V2 C2
Marcato 2017-11-01

Deckers Outdoor Corporation DECK

Deckers' board missed every margin target and wasted $600m on retail bloat and Sanuk; replacing them enables UGG focus, non-core divestitures and a doubling to $135-158.

N4 V3 C3
Greenlight Capital 2016-11-28

Bayer AG BAYN

Bayer at €88/11x trades in no-man's land between Monsanto deal-sceptics and deal-believers; whether the merger closes or breaks, Bayer shareholders get cake.

N5 V3 C3
Marcato 2016-06-13

Buffalo Wild Wings BWLD

Buffalo Wild Wings should reverse course on low-return franchisee buy-ins, refranchise to 90% by 2020, recapitalize, and fix incentives — unlocking ~180% upside to ~$402.

N4 V4 C4
Oasis Management

Kao Corporation 4452.JP

Kao, a 'sleeping giant' of premium FMCG brands hamstrung by a management allergic to growth, should refocus globally and rebuild the board, unlocking 76-97% upside.

N5 V4 C4
Starboard Value

Fluor Corporation FLR

Fluor's $4bn NuScale stake masks a transformed EPCM core trading at just 2.8x EBITDA; separating NuScale unlocks a re-rating to peer 6-13x multiples.

N4 V4 C4