Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

""For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company obtained the use of various assets through operating and finance leases, which reduced the level of capital expenditures that would have otherwise been necessary to operate its business." — Limbach 2024 10-K"

"“just entirely unethical,” beginning when the NOP was established: “it’s a big reason why I decided to get out of the company”; “since they purchased aircraft, they were flying in nonlocal teams versus driving the local team.” — Former OCS Specialist who left recently"

"Not good at all!!! We have been in the hospital since Friday!!! Retained fluid all over especially his lungs with potential heart failure. Stopping Vykat aka diazoxide choline for good!!! — A parent's post in the largest Facebook group dedicated to VYKAT XR discussion"

"Among the identified risks, those related to forced labor, indecent working conditions, and human trafficking have been identified as salient in countries where the Group operates, in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. — Accor SA Vigilance Plan (p. 266)"

"we ... are still going to apply for NTAP program. CMS has not announced when those next round of applications are due. We expect that they'll probably do sometime in October or November. And then the approval would occur a couple of quarters after that. — Larry Mehren"

"The amount of depreciation of property, plant, and equipment, exclusive of amortization related to intangible assets, recognized for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022, was $33.5 million, $25.7 million, and $16.6 million, respectively. — CTO Realty 10-K"

"We were able to opportunistically accumulate our position in Agilent at an attractive valuation, an average cost of $76.58 per share, due to share price underperformance caused by a temporary slowdown in instrument sales that has already shown early signs of recovery"

"Approximately 35% of existing future operating lease expenses through 2022 are through its related-party agreement with DriveTime. As the share of third-party leases increases, opportunities for cost-sharing, or for understating costs through DriveTime, will decline."

"The idea that urologists are going to bypass both drugs and minimally invasive procedures and move directly to resective surgery is not supported by academic literature, AUA practice guidelines, or current practice based on our conversations with numerous urologists."

"We believe the market ascribes a premium multiple to MPWR based on faulty assumptions about it business; notably, that it has takeout potential, and a defensible, low cost business model that is durable enough to withstand cyclical economic and competitive pressures."

"Consolidated multiples are misleading due to large minority interests in much higher-multiple MLPs. Blending MPLX and MPC valuations together obscures MPC’s dramatic undervaluation. Marathon’s accounting treatment of turnaround costs further hides its undervaluation."

"Given the enormous difference in our results, we believe the simplest explanation for JLL’s valuation findings is that three of the six comparable properties were cherry-picked, with several smaller, higher valued properties employed to push up the average value/sqm."

"After years of Phillips 66's (NYSE: PS) stock underperformance and operational missteps, the investor community is fed up with its strategy and leadership - even as it gives high marks to the Company's collection of strong assets and enviable competitive positioning."

"Following several years of missed targets, [Hess] has refrained from offering production guidance much beyond the current year. Whilst this plays to its benefit by avoiding the risk of over promising / under delivery, it also clouds the outlook over the coming years."

"Spruce Point takes issue with Oatly’s first slide of its June 2021 Investor Presentation. The analysis is based on a 2013 study (updated in 2016) which doesn’t include its recent expansion into the U.S. and Asia, which we believe has been poorly planned and executed."

"As GAAP gross margins have declined, the Company's poor financial performance is shown by its negative operating and net margins. However, the Company's non-GAAP adjustments create the illusion of Sunnova being a profitable business with high Adjusted EBITDA margins."

"Excluding Mr. Shoiry’s ownership, the remainder of the Board owns just 0.05%. We believe the announcement that Mr. Shoiry is retiring from the Board is a step in the right direction. However, we believe the timing is very suspicious considering our report’s findings."

"While the revenue came in the quarter was strong, the overall performance of the sales organization and specifically new sales activity in the second quarter was unacceptable. The management team and I have spent the past month restructuring the global sales function"

"Current FND investors should carefully evaluate the insider selling behavior. FND's two private equity sponsors, Freeman Spogli and Ares, completely cashed out before it even reached 160 stores or ~30% of the 500 stores that the Company currently claims it can reach."

"We have grave concerns about its continuing brand equity given its business relationship with Movers+Shakers, a marketing firm with ties to the notorious NXIVM cult and with its “joy” messaging that appears to be eerily similar to the cult’s Science of Joy teachings."

"Women make up 67% of ELF’s Board, 56% of senior leadership and almost 80% of all employees. Therefore, we believe its brand equity and success is highly sensitive to the perception that it supports organizations with positive connections to women’s health and rights."

"We observe that Axon just reported its worst Q1 cash burn in its public history. Management is claiming this is due to the Taser 7 ramp, and trade-in credit terms. However, we believe there are other factors at work that will cause cash flow to remain under pressure."

"Intuit has reclassified hundreds of millions of dollars of segment operating expenses to the corporate level, which, absent more details about the changes, leads us to believe Intuit could be obfuscating the true labor costs related to its growing "expert" platforms."

"By now, most public companies have adopted ASU 2016-02 to recognize leases on the balance sheet. However, Porch still has not adopted this guidance, and as a result, its financial statements are not comparable on an apples-to-apples basis with other public companies."

"Spruce Point believes BR's real serviceable addressable market may actually be lower than the $5 billion that Broadridge promotes because it includes financial institutions' in-house solutions which are likely to be sticky, entrenched and difficult for BR to replace."

"We believe a resurgence of door-to-door pest control sales models has also been chipping away at Rollins’ ability to source new customers. In fact, as we’ll discuss later in the report, Rollins recently acquired Fox Pest Control, a large door-to-door sales operation."

"After years of Phillips 66’s (NYSE: PS) stock underperformance and operational missteps, the investor community is fed up with its strategy and leadership – even as it gives high marks to the Company’s collection of strong assets and enviable competitive positioning."

"Based on the assumptions provided and using the mid-point of the valuation analysis, this Transaction would result in total combined value of $70 per share for Target shareholders (74% premium to the 20-day average trading price) and $83 per share twelve months later"

"Aside from the overall amount of revenue and deferred revenue being implausible - we estimate $6.3MM of deferred revenue per Allonnia employee - the timing of when Ginkgo booked these amounts from Allonnia strains credibility and suggests they are clearly fictitious."

"We believe this is truly a unique opportunity to unlock significant value in Hyundai Motor Group by taking the necessary steps to realign its equity value with the top-class business that the Founding Family and the leadership of the Group have built over the decades"

"Investors should be attuned to Aerojet’s large revenue miss in Q4’18 that disappointed investors by nearly 15%. Given our fundamental review of its program and revenue opportunities, we believe this is just the beginning of the revenue disappointment story unfolding."

"KOL's and executives in the SCS space listed various high volume Nevro implanters by name and described them as "their whore for California," "a guy who takes money," "borderline unethical what they do," doctors you could "blow the whistle on," or as "coin-operated.""

"Spruce Point questions whether this represents Zillow's ability to influence pricing due to its market dominance or because the Company needs to squeeze out more dollars because its Flex partners are not converting at the rate Zillow needs to make this strategy work?"

"The OPO executive emphasized the exploitation of “Reasonable Cost” as the heart of TransMedics scam – without it, we note that traditional kidney pumps sell for a mere $2,000 – and its game over now that government is about to define what reasonable cost actually is."

"The OPO executive alleged that the CEO’s sister Amira Hassanein, who runs the failed lung program, is as “confrontational” as other executives in badgering and coercing surgeons to accept and transplant organs they have already rejected as dangerous to their patient."

"However, if Sony Technologies can execute on the growth trajectory laid out at Sony’s 2019 IR Day, we see the potential for the company to: Grow revenue by >50%; Grow operating profit by >100%; Compound value at ~15% annually, and achieve a $35bn valuation in 5 years"

"The problem is that these supra-therapeutic doses were only SINGLE-DOSE and would not cover the steady-state peak plasma concentrations which are 2.3 times higher what they would be after a single dose, given pitolisant’s half-life and the implied accumulation ratio."

"This implies that Green Peak actually purchased an empty parcel of land for $1.4M. The county’s assessor office gave the land an assessed value of $705,500. We consider this evidence that Green Peak purchased this land at a significant premium before selling to IIPR."

"Hence, a fraudster is trapped by double-entry bookkeeping and the interdependence between the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement – they cannot overstate profits on the income statement without also overstating assets or understating liabilities."

"And so because there wasn't an overlap in terms of our customer base and Passbook was the product that we had, it wasn't going to scale as fast, because the synergies weren't there as fast as we would have wanted it to. — CEO on Passbook, JP Morgan Conf, May 22, 2023"

"Business tax shall be exempted on the income gained from educational labor services provided by the schools, which engage in the education for academic credentials. — Notice Of The Ministry Of Finance And The State Administration Of Taxation On Tax Education Policies"

""Tower counts from the most notable private operators remain low, with each comprising just 1-2% of public tower counts. Tillman was the most active tower company last year, expanding its footprint by 20%. That said, this equates to just ~180 towers." — UBS June 2020"

"Ms. Roll responded that the trading market was thin and not representative of where willing buyers and sellers would discover value. Based on its own analysis of Loewen's situation, Allied had concluded that its internally estimated premium valuation was appropriate."

"We prepared the estimates of reserves which were audited by MM&A, and MM&A reviewed our methodology, assumptions and reserve factors utilized in calculations...MM&A relied on their independent pro-forma economic analysis for ultimate reserve determination — 10-K p.48"

"“Since the CEO transition on November 1, 2015, our team has delivered total shareholder return (“TSR”) of 27%...the weighted average return of the companies where Mr. Peltz serves as a Board member has been only 8%” — Letter From David Taylor to Shareholders, 8/14/17"

"As we are still working through the alignment to our standard operating procedures of one of our Recent Acquisitions, the combined contribution of the Reedsburg Facility acquisition and the Carolina Acquisition negatively impacted our results. — Saputo Q1 2023 Report"

""This [soccer] sponsorship supports retailing with sampling and activation opportunities for our distributors and it will help in recruiting a key target segment of the U.S. population, the stay-at-home mom." — CEO Michael Johnson, Earnings Conference Call, 2/27/2008"

""...the Mailchimp growth story, again, at least when I was there, like revenue was going up into the right, although at a more like measured steady clip. But user growth really was kind of hitting a plateau at the time..." — Former Manager at Mailchimp, Tegus, 2/6/23"

"I thank Phillip for the tremendous contributions he has made during his many years with Cintas. Those of us who have had the privilege of working with Phillip know that Cintas is a better company because of him and he will be missed — Cintas Corporation Press Release"

"It’s amazing how much mindshare Nevro got. They didn’t invent 10kHz high frequency. Medtronic did high frequency studies and they were no better than placebo. It’s just a stimulator like everything else. It’s not a panacea. — Former Medtronic neuromodulation employee"

"So make the product really good, pay more for it seems like a good strategy to me, especially when you're capacity constrained. So that's what I would be focusing on. And I think that they're starting to move that direction with the pricing changes. — Former Employee"

"Improved the Company’s financial health by driving companywide efforts to improve profit margins, reduce debt, secure credit rating, and increase return on capital, positioning the Company to take advantage of future growth opportunities — DuPont 2014 proxy statement"

"The domestic sports industry, first and foremost in this industry, the most important mode is the dealer/agent system. ... So for a brand company, I prefer the agent-distributor model, in which case I can more quickly more regularly receive my revenue stream. — Mr. D"

"I think great looks like, you know, absolute safe performance, personal safe performance, process safety performance, incredible environmental stewardship, strong utilization across all units in each refinery, which means reliability across all units. — Brian Coffman"

"Following a risk-benefit analysis, including consultation with FDA, study investigators, independent expert neurologists, and neuroradiologists, Sanofi determined that the risk to patient safety outweighed the benefit that fedratinib would bring to patients. — Sanofi"

"Consumer NZ has issued a warning to customers of HelloFresh to check their bills as many continue to get charged for meal-kits they have opted to skip. Consumer NZ head of content Caitlin Cherry said the issue has been ongoing for more than three years. — Consumer NZ"

"Generac stopped providing quarterly disclosure of its allowance for bad debts. We find it suspicious that there was no increase in the allowance throughout 2021, even after it made various small and speculative acquisitions exposing it to more residential customers."

"While ABML seeks, and investors’ hope, an uplisting to a major stock exchange is a catalyst for the shares, it remains to be seen how the exchange listing committee, or ESG investors for that matter, will view a key management team member’s involvement in a brothel."

"There is enormous shareholder overlap among the top five REITs in the IYR. On average, the same 25 holders own ~60% of the top five REITs, yet they currently own less than 1% of GGP. In order to obtain similar ownership of PF GGP, they must buy 60% or $9bn of PF GGP"

"BLK voting actions imply that it is in the best interest of their clients for a company to not pursue compensation for damages against former executives sentenced to jail (at the time of voting, on first degree judgement) for false accounting and market manipulation"