Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"“That’s our plan, yeah. I hope...for liver transplant, we use it obviously a lot more than heart or lung. I know our surgical director is not a fan of TransMedics and he’s actively working on strategies to minimize our reliance on it.” — UCSF administrator"

"Refined the Company's growth strategy and set clear strategic and operational priorities and goals to create a higher-growth, higher-value company – this work included the decision to separate the Performance Chemicals segment — DuPont 2014 proxy statement"

"Long-Term Safety of Diazoxide Choline Extended-Release (DCCR) Tablets in Participants with Prader-Willi Syndrome from the Completed C601 Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study (DESTINY PWS) and C602 Open Label Extension (OLE) Study — Poster Title"

"The things that made Mortara what it was disappeared after the acquisition. The entrepreneurial culture was lost.... Sales people who were familiar with the flagship product were dropped, and it didn't sell as well under Hill-Rom. — Former Mortara Employee"

"I think it's a problem that's going to be with them for a number of years. So even if they [MCY] manage to get through this, the price they're going to pay going forward is going to be orders of magnitude more than they paid this year. — Reinsurance Expert"

"“there’s a huge risk here to Lasertec…if machines are piling up and KLA is going around reassuring people that if you can hold off until mid-2025.” — Longtime executive at Global Foundries; directly involved with Lasertec and all aspects of mask inspection"

"Spruce Point finds it troubling that GFL restated results again in Q2 2020. Solid waste revenues mysteriously increased by $12m. The large increase of intercompany revenue, and boosting of Solid Waste segment results, is alarming in light of our research."

"Spruce Point believes DY's margins are not likely sustainable and may have benefited from various actions that may be difficult to continue. As further evidence of our concern, management has walked back talk of what its long-term EBITDA margin should be."

"Initially submitted as an advisory proposal to solicit shareholder feedback, but rejected by Keisei, Palliser's binding proposal to reduce the OLC stake below 15% offered shareholders a voice on capital allocation, whilst preserving management flexibility"

"Pershing Square is the third largest beneficial shareholder of Target with 7.8% of the company, including approximately $1 billion in common stock (3.3% of the company) and $280 million in stock options (4.5% of the company) based on recent market prices."

"Will the addition of the Pershing Square team, its investment expertise and hedging capabilities, along with a change in business strategy to a diversified holding company model deliver at least 150 bps of annual excess equity return for HHH shareholders?"

"Given that IonQ’s homepage – where most retail investors would look - leads with its 32-qubit computer and its press releases announced the launch with unambiguous language, we found it unusual that the recent prospectus only mentions an 11-qubit computer"

"While PowerSchool touts the depth of its student data, we believe it must adhere to laws governing use of this data. We will illustrate areas we believe the Company is at high risk of running afoul of its obligations to protect and safeguard student data."

"Analysts have proven to be overly optimistic about Maxar’s results, often taking management’s word at face value and extrapolating results. Estimates have been slowly coming down, but we believe they are still too optimistic with further room to contract."

"PS: If I manage to find a native American Indian’s feather headdress I will send this additional essential part of the memories. And by the way: “Singing in the rain” is indeed a wonderful classic – even though I have never tried to sing it in a fountain."

"When asked on the Aug 2022 call “how quickly” it would contribute to revenue, the CFO evaded the question and shifted the topic to “we’ve increased our capacity in San Francisco,” saying only that the facility would “start to record revenues” in Jan 2023."

"P&G’s income statement has stalled since 2011, underperforming the peer average on virtually every line item including: sales growth (volume and organic growth), gross profit growth, gross margins, operating profit growth, operating margins and EPS growth"

"WD-40’s valuation is disconnected from reality, yet overly bullish sell-side analysts see room for more expansion? As the world has faced an unprecedented slow-down, its valuation has increased even while its financial prospects and condition deteriorate."

"Kate has failed to successfully grow outside of Japan. Given the interest in Japanese beauty brands among foreign consumers and acquisitions of Japanese cosmetics brands by Western rivals, we believe Kate has an opportunity to establish a global presence."

"Furthermore, we note that the growth in the value of Amdocs’ European assets is not in line with the geographic distribution of its customers, nor with changes in the geographic distribution of its customer base since its European assets began to balloon."

"Based on a review of the transactions listed in Exhibit 4.49, the unique strategic franchises and the competitive position of Networks, private market valuation is estimated at 16x - 18x 2005PF OIBDA, implying an enterprise value of $47.6 - $53.6 billion."

"TASK is the only company among its peers that we could identify trying to sell investors on COVID-19 related expense adjustments to improve EBITDA and EPS. Analysts aren't asking any questions or pushing back on what we believe are aggressive adjustments."

"It is worth noting that, similar to past acquisitions, there will be some amount of MSCI shared expenses that will be allocated to the segment. These allocations will reduce the margins for Burgiss, while slightly increasing the margins in other segments."

"Rather than debate about the product, we focus on three core assumptions underpinning QuickBooks growth expectations: (1) mid-market expansion, (2) international growth, and (3) the presumed absence of competitive threats beyond those listed to the right."

"Therefore, the logical consequences of not making yourself available (without good reason) are that (1) you are failing to fulfil your duties as a Senior Independent Director, and (2) you risk sending a concerning message about your level of independence."

"New York City's population growth turned negative for the first time in 2017, legged down again in 2018 and appears poised for further trouble as housing remains inadequate across the city and the current crisis once again puts New York in the crosshairs."

"Although we believe there are a number of attractive alternatives for Macy’s to create substantial value for shareholders and remain investment grade, we believe the most prudent first step is to create multiple JVs for the majority of Macy’s real estate."

"In this illustration, we assume the JV takes on initial leverage of 5.8x net debt / EBITDA, or $6.9 billion(1), which enables Macy’s to repay debt at the parent-level in order to achieve a target leverage ratio of 3.5x Adjusted Debt / EBITDAR at the OpCo."

"A Snake Oil Salesman And Some Hedge Funds Partner Up To Pimp The Latest “Synthetic Biology” Scam -- As Phantom Revenue, A Hocus-Pocus Business Model, Rampant Related-Party Games, And A Decade of Colossal Failure Get Shoveled Into Yet Another Garbage SPAC."

"Accelerate Hyundai Proposals do not envision significant changes in other aspects of HMG as it currently stands, for example, key business and operational considerations, labor/work force utilization, key assets including factory and inventory managements"

"A former Nevro executive shared his dismay at patients being “flipped” and painted a sordid picture of “bad actors” hustling patients into the company’s stimulators and threatening to cut off their opioid refills as leverage to force them into the device."

"Given an expanded board it is necessary to raise the cap to accommodate the salaries for new external directors on a proportional basis, Oasis is therefore seeking to expand the current pay structure in line with an expanded board on a proportional basis."

"Limbach engages Crowe LLP as its auditor, a small firm with an estimated ~1% market share. Crowe faced SEC charges in the past over deficient audits on a company which was discovered to have $100 million in undiscovered liabilities after it went bankrupt."

"NRP for DCS's...has the potential to really eat into the overall volume for TransMedics...personally, I feel quite confident that the outcomes are better with NRP than they are with OCS...NRP, I think, is better...and it’s obviously significantly cheaper."

"In its Q3 2022 10-Q, B. Riley Financial (Nasdaq: RILY) abruptly stopped assuring investors that it was in compliance with the covenants of two credit agreements – its $380 million Nomura credit agreement, as well as its $75 million BRPAC credit agreement."

"The KOL blasted the entire package of Vykat clinical trials as lacking in credibility and alleged a pattern on dubious investigator conduct, from the single-center Phase 2 pilot study to the randomized withdrawal trial that kicked it over the finish line."

"am I going to go to the mat and do an appeal and do all this extra stuff and work super hard for a drug that I don't believe is all that powerful or effective to begin with? No, it's just not a strong enough medicine to put in that much additional effort."

"Shopify has recently added a section in its Help Center for “Migrating from Lightspeed to Shopify”. We believe this to be another signal of the increasing competition between Lightspeed and Shopify, a battle we believe Shopify is better positioned to win."

"The authors state that the death (heart attack) and QTc changes were not likely related to study drug but no explanation is provided for this assessment – and we emphasize that patients with significant cardiovascular disease were excluded from the study."

"DARPA's snub, determining that IONQ does not have a reasonable chance of making a useful quantum computer within 10 years, must have been a huge kick in the teeth for IONQ since its CEO has been claiming it has already commercialized its quantum computer."

"This is despite management alluding to a potential buyer on the Q1 2023 earnings call, with CEO Albright claiming that they may “have a buyer group interested” in response to an analyst’s question on CTO’s exposure to Fidelity, General Dynamics, and Ford."

"Basically all revenue growth since Mar '23 has come from siphoning deferred revenue – an abrupt change of trend and the first major, sustained decline in “advances.” Increase in revenue of ¥38B/$245MM is similar to ¥44B/$283MM decline in deferred revenue."

"Transaction fees vary based on the corridor, the currency in which funds are delivered to the recipient, the funding method a customer chooses (e.g., ACH, credit card, debit card, etc.), and the amount of the customer's principal. — Remitly IPO Prospectus"

""We expect that [vet clinics on the Vets First Choice Platform will] identify more than $0.5 million to $1 million of incremental new revenues to their practice." — Benjamin J. Shaw, CEO of Vets First Choice on April 23, 2018 (announcement of transaction)"

"In September 2021, the Company entered into a multiyear deal with UMD to provide certain quantum computing services and facility access related to the National Quantum Lab at UMD in exchange for payments totaling $14 million. — IonQ 10Q filing for Q3 2021"

"We derive 59.8% from two figures. An expert in structuring renewable investments described the Tax Equity Partner's benefit to us as an ITC of 30% of project value and 14% in the form of depreciation, combined with a typical ~8% cash return. — Footnote 66"

"“That was my primary part in the company, scaling up the DNA to have enough for these customers...In the team that I was with, we’d have to scale up the cells for 16 hours. So, that’s a bottleneck for maxiprep.” — Ex-Twist employee in a manufacturing role"

"Muddy Waters’s proprietary (engineered in-house) stochastic probability-based China dynamic matrix decision making application indicates that, within the 95% confidence interval, such request would have been met with a response of “F—k you.” — Footnote 27"

"While I was there, we were much higher. Like over time, I'm sure that the price has come down, but it was well-known that we were at a premium. And we would really only reduce pricing in exchange for a long-term contract. — Former strategy executive at DV"

"Operating revenues from non-recurring revenues increased 48.7% for the six months ended June 30, 2023, primarily driven by one-time license fees related to prior periods, as well as non-recurring licensed data products. — MSCI Q2 2023 Financial Disclosure"

"「私はサイマーには10年いました。極端紫外線光源の開発のために採用されました。全部で10年〜11年ほど、さまざまな極端紫外線装置の開発に関わりました。半導体製造装置のもう1社は、極端紫外線マスク検査装置の開発のため、その分野の専門家が必要になるということで、〇〇〇頃に私を採用してくれました。当初は極端紫外線光源の責任者で、その後、光源と光学系全般の責任者になりました」 — サイマー（後、ASML）ともう1社で極端紫外線の光源の開発における中心的な役割を果たした人物で、当該分野における名だたる科学者・専門家"

"The portfolio includes 20 apartment units or villas, of which 3 are completed, and 17 are in various stages of development. Total fair value of these residential projects was EUR 297.8 million as of the date of transaction. — CPI PG 2023 management report"

""[T]he best way to improve the returns attainable by savers was to do what the Fed actually did: keep rates low...so that the economy could recover and more quickly reach the point of producing healthier investment returns." — Ben Bernanke, March 30, 2015"

"“I worked with Nevro for a while, but I had a bad experience with them... Patients hate the Nevro device. That thing is a piece of shit. The explant rate could easily be 50-60%... The company just lies. They're full of it.” — High volume implanter and KOL"

"Yeah, I think there is some placebo effect. Sometimes, I scratch my head about why the people that are on it are on it...Xyrem is like a wow...there's more guilt I feel now, like seeing that rep. — Neurologist and professor at a large academic institution"

"These are strange times in the economic world. Just about everybody has been surprised by the scope and magnitude of the credit crisis and confidence in the financial markets has been severely weakened. However, we just wanted you to know . . . We are OK."

"This assertion is supported by a former employee with knowledge of the product, who told us that the Goldengate software is not doing the heavy lifting on its projects, instead the company's offshore employees are manually performing the bulk of the work."

"Other recent Generac product introductions have fallen short. Notably, in 2018 Generac promoted its new outdoor power equipment line called Generac PRO for commercial users such as landscapers and renters. Today, many products don't exist on the website."

"Generac recently increased its cash rebate incentives from $600 to $1,000 to sign-up for first time installers. Why would Generac increase incentives if it were having no issues recruiting installers? Even with increased incentives, dealer growth slowed."

"The material overpayment for the Brazil assets relative to their profitability and risks lead us to believe that AMT should be forced to impair its intangible assets and/or goodwill by US$274 million, or 28% of the combined amounts paid for acquisitions."