Callouts & quotes from 1,316+ activist slides

"Pioneer burns cash and isn’t growing. If the existing reserves are worth somewhere between $3 billion and $7.8 billion, why is the market paying $27 billion for this company?"

"The Level 2 reclassification raises worrying issues because the default assumption is that cash and term deposits of less than 12 months in safe banks are not Level 2 assets."

"As a result of the Company's improved capital allocation, pre-tax unlevered free cash flow has increased from a five-year low of $2.0 billion in 2002 to $3.5 billion in 2004."

"TWX pursued a strategy of rapid de-leveraging to ease concerns of the rating agencies and bondholders and, in the process, used cash for certain questionable asset purchases."

"MGPI's valuation is rich and its financial condition is fragile with no cash and significant leverage on earnings and EBITDA expectations that are likely to sorely disappoint"

"While the non-restricted portion of this cash should be included in liquidity, it should be adjusted by the 15.5% cash repatriation tax enforced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act."

"After deconsolidating what isn't BUR's, unbooking their non-cash realizations, and undoing the reliance on a select four cases, BUR H1 2019 cash ROICs actually turn negative."

"The Richter real estate structure appears severely cash-constrained. Holding illiquid assets while facing liquidity demands during a margin call creates a dangerous mismatch."

"In March 2019 we completed the acquisition of OrthoSpace, Ltd. for total cash consideration of $110 with future milestone payments of up to an additional $110. — Q1 2019 10-Q"

"The fact that 91% of HASI's dividends are admittedly Returns of Capital (versus ordinary income) shows the stark difference between Distributable Earnings and cash receipts."

"Vitek extinguished debts in the tens of millions of euro his proxy-owed entity owed to CPI PG. He then possibly extracted even more cash by selling a receivable back to CPI!"

"More Consistent Free Cash Flow Growth. Transition to annual billings for product subscriptions reduces FY24 FCF, but accelerates FY25 & FY26 FCF — Autodesk Investor Day 2021"

"At $21 per share, Veritas is buying the Company for 7.6x 2024 unlevered free cash flow, a multiple that is too low for a business with the positive characteristics of HMHC."

"Like most aggressive tech companies with poor business models that Spruce Point evaluates, we find that Dropbox tries to spin a rosy "Non-GAAP" Free Cash Flow presentation."

"More than half of U.S. homeowners now buy their panels with cash or a loan, rather than sign a lease or power purchase agreement, up from 38% of home installations in 2015."

"Saputo claims that EBITDA is a measure of cash flow in performing its DCF. However, our analysis shows that EBITDA is a poor proxy for cash flow and converts at around 70%."

"Spruce Point believes CHD effectively controls Armand Products and is using the entity to inflate key financial metrics (gross margin, free cash flow, and working capital)."

"We view missing interest income as a reliable indicator of missing cash and a more than reasonable basis for questioning the legitimacy of QTT’s cash balance and liquidity."

"Management has spent $1.6B on M&A since the financial crisis to grow operating cash flow from $519M to $557M in ten years, for an operating cash flow CAGR of less than 1%."

"Based on an industry accepted measure, we find SMCI's cash conversion has been worsening in the past few years and is well above management's "target" range of 85-90 days."

"In 3 of the last 4 quarters, the conversion was 26-30% - indicating that 70% of reported net income is just accrual estimates and assumptions in a spreadsheet versus cash."

"Why should investors include it as a component of liquidity when management won't even represent it as a component of restricted cash, to say nothing of unrestricted cash?"

"How can AVY have a “disciplined approach” to capital when it has no available cash. Notice that AVY does not list its $232m of “cash and equivalents” as a capital source."

"By making this change, it will reduce its accounts receivable outstanding, artificially enhance its operating cash flow, and make its cash conversion cycle appear better."

"It appears that Solvency II did not anticipate negative bond yields, as holding debt with locked in negative yields can’t possibly be safer than selling and holding cash."

"We estimate that this defection and competition will decrease 2022E revenue by 35% and levered free cash flow by 80%, while net leverage should balloon to more than 8.0x."

"We believe that TROX post-Exxaro deal ("New TROX") will be the strongest player in its industry with 100% vertical integration and unparalleled free cash flow generation"

"Elliott proposes to acquire athenahealth for $160 per share in cash for 100% of the outstanding shares of the Company, representing an enterprise value of ~$6.9 billion."

"The Company's entire new plan – pausing M&A, focusing on organic growth opportunities and using cash flows to reduce leverage – is essentially ripped from Engine's plan."

"Notice carefully, that Oatly does not report any cash associated with asset sales that should flow through the "Investing Activities" section of the cash flow statement."

"GTT's trailing-twelve-month (“TTM”) cash conversion rate is only 5.1% - significantly worse than most of its peers, whose weighted average cash conversion rate is 21.5%."

"Step 1: Disposal of TEN via auction process. The cash proceeds from the Tenon disposal will be used to repay Tenon's debt and finance the ARBRs research and development."

"We observe that Monster's philanthropic arm filed no tax form in 2020 in a year the parent Company reported almost 10% revenue growth and more than 20% cash flow growth."

"Looking carefully at disclosures, we see that TASK does not report interest income earned on cash and equivalents despite carrying large amounts of cash and equivalents."

"Mettler has exceeded sell-side quarterly EPS targets 100% of the time since 2008, and by no coincidence, management has always met 100% of its annual cash bonus targets."

"The post-spin tax carryforwards along with cash tax planning opportunities will allow ADT to sustain a single-digit cash tax rate consistent with pre-spin cash tax rates"

"Given TIP REIT’s de minimis maintenance capital requirements, TIP REIT’s free cash flow should be compared to a real estate investment trust’s AFFO, not the “FFO” metric"

"Spruce Point believes that Amcor's free cash flow, and commitment to repurchasing shares, leave it little room to protect its dividend under current market expectations."

"Spruce Point believes that Amcor's free cash flow, and commitment to repurchasing shares, leave it little room to protect its dividend under current market expectations."

"We demand transparency. The filings claim cash purchases, but if DSR Ventures had €19 million readily available, why borrow against HelloFresh shares in the first place?"

"In the event we are unable to obtain sufficient capital, we may need to take steps to conserve cash by reducing our capital expenditures or dividend payments — 2011 10-K"

"As we suggested in our initial report, Cash & Equivalents would be double counted if Eurofins failed to net (technically "eliminate") Related Party Pooling Receivables."

"The anticipation of a tax repatriation holiday allows companies to tell their shareholders that bringing the cash back too soon would be a 'waste of shareholder money.'"

"At Sony's current share price the stock is trading at a 7% (12% normalized for semiconductor growth spending) unlevered free cash flow yield, based on this FCF guidance"

"The Ghanaian investment appears to be overvalued particularly when compared to their discounted cash flow model valuation and the unjustified increased purchase price."

"If achieved, the $14 billion 2025E mid-cycle EBITDA target translates to $9 billion of free cash flow, which at a 10% free cash flow yield implies a >$205 share price."

"Burford's 2019 financials use reclassification, redefinition to inflate cash receipts, operating profit, and to otherwise present a misleading picture of the business."

"FTAI’s Aerospace Products EBITDA margins are inflated because hundreds of millions of cash costs are incurred by the Leasing segment rather than in Aerospace Products."

"If achieved, the $14 billion 2025E mid-cycle EBITDA target translates to $9 billion of free cash flow, which at a 10% free cash flow yield implies a >$205 share price."

"The SEC seemed particularly confused as to how CTO could report increasing “cash flow”, while also having their GAAP metric for cash flow going in the wrong direction."

"Operating cash flow also excludes payments made to a customer to obtain a new contract or extend or modify an existing contract. — Dycom 2019 and 2023 Proxy Statements"

"The net effect of these two impacts brings PowerSchool's adjusted leverage to 5.8x – a standout in the ed-tech industry where many companies have a net cash position."

"Capitalized cash costs are conveniently added-back to both Adj. EBITDA and Non-GAAP EPS. Capitalized software development costs were nearly 18x PP&E Purchases in 2023"

"The Board's actions have been designed to favor and protect the trustees at the expense of shareholders, much like how the Board rejected the cash-rich premium offer."

"A JV structure will provide Macy's with significant financial and operational flexibility, future optionality, and substantial ongoing free cash flow for Macy's OpCo."

"Inexcusably, Capricorn shareholders are faced with the prospect of giving up their cash to shoulder the burden of servicing this highly speculative turnaround story."

"By reclassifying this as an operating expense and cash flow reduction, consistent with industry peers, we estimate WSP's adj. free cash flow conversion is 36% - 41%."

"The poor valuation reflects investor concerns that management and the Board will waste OUTR's substantial (but declining) free cash flows on risky growth initiatives"

"We believe one of the clearest signs of aggressive accounting at Limbach is the disconnect between its steadily rising adjusted earnings and stagnant free cash flow."

"We believe one of the clearest signs of aggressive accounting at Limbach is the disconnect between its steadily rising adjusted earnings and stagnant free cash flow."