Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"Cornelius' significant executive level energy industry experience, background in strategic planning and risk oversight, and extensive public board experience - including at companies in the refining sector - would make him a valuable addition to the Phillips Board."

"Zebra doesn't disclose where its capex is being directed, but we have some insights by looking at the PP&E accounts. We are concerned that ZBRA's capex spending is significantly more focused on machinery, buildings and leaseholds rather than computers and software."

"Cornelius' significant executive level energy industry experience, background in strategic planning and risk oversight, and extensive public board experience – including at companies in the refining sector – would make him a valuable addition to the Phillips Board."

"In any case, today I am going to present another short of a midsized financial institution most of you haven't heard of, with serious problems including losses it hasn't accounted for, that has created its own proprietary grading system which helps hide the losses."

"Enthusiasm is running high that Ballard is well positioned in a Chinese FCV bus market on the brink of commercialization; its valuation multiple is pushed to all-time highs. Our on the ground research in China will illustrate why Ballard is again set to disappoint."

"We are troubled by this given our observations that: 1) FND's leasing strategy is out of line with the rest of the retail space, 2) FND made recent disclosure changes to its loyalty program accounting and 3) Disclosure changes made to supply chain finance programs."

"Spruce Point interviewed a former Business Development professional at TASK who left to work for a competitor. The opinions are insightful and express the view that TASK faces multiple challenges ahead that will lead to rising costs and clients being competed away."

"Though Herbalife’s SG&A disclosure is limited, we estimate a meaningful portion of Distributor Facing expenses are dedicated to vacation packages, one-time cash bonuses, Herbalife pins and watches, and other similar promotions that can only be gained via recruiting"

"We observe that CHD’s related purchases from Armand mysteriously dropped to a 6.5yr low at $14.6m and management fees (benefiting EBITDA through a reduction to SG&A) has increased even while underlying performance from these entities doesn’t appear to be improving."

"Samsung Electronics has outclassed its peers in terms of profitability for the semiconductor, display and consumer electronics segments and has made significant headway in improving the profitability of its mobile division in the two most recently reported quarters"

"Since the investment was made in 3Q18, the difference of RMB 37.6 million was likely recognized as revenues by IQ in the second half of 2018, leaving the remaining RMB 726.155 million available to be used by management to artificially boost its top line, as needed."

"BR’s balance sheet displays a worrisome trend of rapidly expanding deferred client conversion costs. The costs being added to the balance sheet are much higher than the cash spent on new client conversions being presented by its investor presentation (prior slide)."

"Academic research customers like UCSF, NIH, and others had experiences as disastrous as commercial users: UCSF and NIH both returned the equipment after 6-9 months; couldn't get publishable data out; NIH chose a far cheaper and faster box from 10X Genomics instead."

"We refer to calculation with no credit for ongoing price increases as AFFO methodology (i.e., free cash flow will continue to grow by level of price increases), and calculation which adds back for price increases as bond methodology (i.e., true fixed income yield)."

"How close were Bodner and Nissim to the backdating scheme? We note that both were named in lawsuits filed against Comverse in the fallout of the scandal, alleging that both personally profited from the scheme "while in possession of materially adverse information.""

"Management repeatedly claimed that G&K’s gross margins will improve to Cintas’ legacy margins as it was marketing the transaction to investors. Yet, it’s now very evident that management never had a way to measure or track it, thus calling its claims into question."

"Cornelius' significant executive level energy industry experience, background in strategic planning and risk oversight, and extensive public board experience - including at companies in the refining sector - would make him a valuable addition to the Phillips Board."

"Based on Limbach's current 2025 guidance, total company organic growth is effectively flat once acquisition contributions are stripped out, and organic growth in the ODR segment, Limbach's primary growth engine, appears to have decelerated to the low-single digits."

"Buyouts of non-competes happen in the railroad sector – however, $25 million for Mr. Orr, who does not have experience leading operations at an Eastern U.S. railroad, is excessive when compared to the 2017 buyout for Hunter Harrison, industry-renowned PSR operator."

"IRBT has historically reported positive operating cash flow (OCF) in its first quarter results. However, in Q1 2014, IRBT reported its first ever Q1 OCF burn in over 8 years (and the only time its GAAP Net Income has been positive, while its OCF has been negative!)"

"The acquisition of ADESA was an acknowledgement of these shortcomings. Far more brick-and-mortar infrastructure (over $2.2bn worth) was needed to properly scale, physically reduce the distance to its customers, and improve profitability by lowering logistics costs."

"Lasertec is a relatively simple accounting fraud - one can easily estimate what its normalized inventory should be, and therefore the level by which both inventory and earnings are inflated and the size of the inevitable impairment charge and retained earnings hit."

"Lasertec is a relatively simple accounting fraud - one can easily estimate what its normalized inventory should be, and therefore the level by which both inventory and earnings are inflated and the size of the inevitable impairment charge and retained earnings hit."

"So all of that to say it's a pretty solid consumer business and it'll continue to grow until some stablecoin displaces them at some point. But I don't think it's right now, probably like three, four years from now and they're very cognizant of it. — Former Employee"

"The U.S. Attorney's office later reached a settlement with Optimal, which "agreed to forfeit approximately $19.2 million in criminal proceeds derived from processing payments for illegal Internet gambling for its Firepay electronic wallet." — U.S. Attorney's Office"

""Eurofins commissions statutory audits covering nearly 100% of its external sales, EBITDA and total assets, even when this is not required by local regulation. These are performed mostly by Tier 1 and Tier 2 audit firms" — Eurofins Scientific Press Release 6-25-24."

"We are very sorry for the losses of our shareholders. However, the losses were caused by Muddy Waters' false allegations and the induced panic among investors. We have already filed a lawsuit in Beijing against Muddy Waters and the author of the report. — NQ Yu Lin"

""it was totally made up"; "doesn’t exist"; "trying to cover up that it’s not there."; "unprecedented amount of pushback"; "outlandish claims"; "are so far removed from reality,"; "essentially every scientist"; "flipping out." — Anonymous ex-executives and employees"

"“The key role of a board member is to appoint management, to set, together with management, a clear strategy with defined goals and metrics, and to hold management accountable for effecting that strategy. The oversight role of the board is critical.” — Rodney Chase"

""And let me just talk briefly about the future of our rolling business too. And it comes down to some pretty simple phrases. Number one, fill the mill and drive capacity. It's about getting that mill filled." — Roy Harvey, CEO of Alcoa Corporation, January 24, 2017"

"“It’s a method that was developed 70 years ago to link DNA bases together and from an oligo. So, it’s not proprietary, and virtually all of the oligo companies that are out there use this chemistry.” — Major Twist customer, one of largest genomics centers in Europe"

"Back then, when Allied COO Joan Sweeney said that my “plan was to scare the little old ladies,” it actually bothered me. When Holman Jenkins at The Wall Street Journal equated my presentation to a “mugging” – a violent crime – I was incensed because it wasn’t fair."

"Purchase commitments include obligations made by us and our subsidiaries to various suppliers for raw materials used in the production of our products. These obligations vary in terms but are generally satisfied within one year. — Monster Beverage Corp. SEC Filings"

"In explaining her friend's feelings the girlfriend used one word to describe me, "cocky." It's not that I've never heard this before. Over the years I've been called pretty much everyone of the thesaurus' alternatives for arrogant. — Bryce Maddock, BryceMaddock.com"

""You know, it’s really amazing. I step out of the Ferrari, the Bentley, or whatever, and people go – ‘what does that guy do for a living? – and I go, ‘I’m an Herbalife independent distributor,’ and people are absolutely amazed" — Doran Andry, Chairman’s Club Member"

"This Sn-based plasma emits Sn ion and neutral debris, which can damage the collector optic in three ways: sputtering, implantation, and deposition. The first two damage processes are irreversible and are caused by the high energies (1-10 keV) of the ion debris [8]."

"“Nagamori decries what he sees as a lack of ambition in Japan. Too many young people are content with only “small happiness,” like going home to their children in the evening rather than working late to become their company’s next president, he says.” — Nikkei Asia"

"Advertising costs are up due to a combination of an increase in our advertising campaigns in reaction to the late arrival of spring, combined with the impact of a change in our quarterly process for estimating and accruing advertising expenses. — Rollins Management"

"But at the end of the day, I think it's quite immaterial whether it was Topic 605 and now Topic 606 [ASU No. 2014-09], and actually we believe that had we stayed under the Topic 605 revenue guidelines, our results will be quite similar. — VRNT Q2 FY19 Earnings Call"

"「そもそも極端紫外線マスク検査の責任者は、レーザーテック製の装置の導入を勧めた人間のひとりでした。1台につき5000万ドルという高額の装置だから、大金の投資でした。こうした装置がきちんと動いていなかったことが、彼にとって大きなストレスになった。それが会議への出席禁止につながったわけです。彼としては稼働率を85%〜90%に近づけたいと思っていましたが、現実は60%〜65%に留まっていることに納得できなかったのです。彼は稼働率を向上させるようにプレッシャーをかけましたが、限界がありました」 — 元フィールド・サービス・エンジニア"

"“Now that they’re using their own planes, these are the invoices that we’re getting...that was recent, in the last few months”; “it was messaged to me...that we didn’t have a choice...they’re just telling us what it’s going to cost.” — UCSF transplant administrator"

"Six participants experienced serious AEs in the study, all occurring in the DCCR group, which in only one participant was considered drug related (peripheral and pulmonary edema in the setting of an unrelated concurrent pneumonia). — Phase 3 paper safety discussion"

"in CYP2D6 poor metabolizers, the Cmax of pitolisant is 153 (151 to 157) ng/mL — a range so tight that it strains credibility, leading us to wonder if Bioprojet simply chose the plasma levels they wanted and phenotyped those patients in hindsight. — Scorpion Capital"

"But at the end of the day, I think it's quite immaterial whether it was Topic 605 and now Topic 606 [ASU No. 2014-09], and actually we believe that had we stayed under the Topic 605 revenue guidelines, our results will be quite similar. — VRNT Q2 FY19 Earnings Call"

"this was our experience too! Massive fluid overload cause fluid around my sons heart and lungs. Weve been working a month now to get the fluid off with lasix and pt. — A third parent's post in the largest Facebook group dedicated to VYKAT XR discussion, last Friday"

"“All they do is services...” — Former Employee. “They don't need Innodata to help them with AI. They're trillion-dollar market cap companies and they really have to come to Innodata for their AI expertise? It doesn't- you know-it doesn't add up.” — Former Employee."

"Though not implicated in the United Rentals scandal (the key elements of fraud occurred prior to his joining in 2005), it's worth considering that current XPO Audit Committee expert Jason Papastavrou also served for Jacobs at United Rentals on the Audit Committee."

"By supporting the Nominees for ADP’s Transformation you will: Elect a major shareholder to the Board, Add two new independent directors with fresh perspectives and relevant expertise, Send a message to ADP’s management and Board that the status quo is unacceptable"

"Meanwhile, while DXCM share price appreciation was driven largely by multiple expansion through H1 FY18, the stock has been range-bound since the middle of FY18 despite continued revenue beats, and the multiple has contracted to some extent on recent sales growth."

"If Dexcom hasn't found a way to sell a competitively-priced down-market CGM profitably after nearly five years of development, we wonder if it will ever find a way to do so, and whether it faces fundamental scale limitations versus Abbott as a one-product company."

"Spruce Point called multiple stores in late April / early May to inquire about Beyoncé products available. Many stores told us we were the first to inquire. In addition, many stores are just setting up Texas Hold 'Em walls which may indicate BOOT is late to trend."

"We believe Huntsman is deliberately including the positive impact of M&A in order to overstate its 2021 Adjusted EBITDA results by $92 million, in order to fool shareholders into believing its FALSE narrative of almost having achieved its 2018 Investor Day target."

"We also acknowledge activism could create an opportunity to highlight value that is even higher at $40 (and in the range of the activist target) to account for significant margin expansion from current levels, premised on a market P/E of 17x and earnings of $2.37."

"If Valeant’s durable portfolio were valued within the range of multiples of businesses that we believe to be comparable, and its patent cliff portfolio were valued using a DCF analysis, then we estimate that Valeant’s forward earnings multiple would be as follows:"

"Coincidentally, SKLZ filed an S-1 registering 38,616,576 Shares of Class A Common Stock and 5,016,666 Warrants for selling shareholders the following Monday, February 8, enabling many early investors to sell millions of shares of SKLZ stock at this inflated price."

"The committee currently anticipates that economic conditions – including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run – are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2013"

"Decisions about revenue recognition are among the most important issues faced by senior accounting personnel. At VMware, Munk held a key role as VP and Corporate Controller during a period the Company violated antifraud and reporting provisions of securities laws."

"Guarantees issued during an economic downturn have a lower probability of default, a longer time period to default, lower severity upon default, and greater persistency, which increases the overall quality of the guarantee portfolio and de-risks the business model"

"We believe the widespread availability of such OTC alternatives that do not require a doctor consultation or subscription could negatively impact HIMS' core sexual health franchise, which relies on its ability to facilitate easy access to prescription medications."

"We believe the widespread availability of such OTC alternatives that do not require a doctor consultation or subscription could negatively impact HIMS’ core sexual health franchise, which relies on its ability to facilitate easy access to prescription medications."