Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"HK has implemented a series of unsuccessful “macro-prudential” reforms to deal with its inflation and wealth gap problems. These efforts do not address the underlying cause of the problems and in some cases are actually inflationary (e.g. cash handouts)"

"At Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), the numbers don't lie. The company has dramatically underperformed its peers since 2019, and shareholders have missed out on substantial returns. Vote the GOLD proxy card today to support a better tomorrow with #Streamline66."

"In short, shareholders are demanding change now, and Elliott remains committed to providing them with a clear choice between continued industry-lagging performance under an incumbent leadership team that has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promises."

"In the context of his wildly aggressive revenue target claims, pressures on cash flow, outsized exposure to struggling Facebook as a 22% customer, and new evidence of financial reporting tied to borrowing not adding up, investors should be on red alert."

"Spruce Point has discovered that Momo has 9 undisclosed first level subsidiaries and 114 undisclosed second level subsidiaries ("subs"). In our experience, it is uncommon for a U.S. listed Chinese company to fail to disclose the subsidiaries of its VIE."

"It is time for shareholder voices to be heard that the status quo is no longer tolerable by electing two highly – qualified directors – Charles Elson and Jonathan Litt – to the Taubman Board at the Company's upcoming 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders."

"Intuit has cited this research to support its claims of IRS racial bias, yet Intuit misrepresents the report’s findings, and even the research report’s authors do not agree with Intuit’s conclusions regarding racial bias and the benefits of Direct File."

"As noted, Intuit top-ticked marketing automation multiples when it acquired Mailchimp. Today, Mailchimp’s higher growth (the metric with the highest correlation to SaaS multiples) peer Klaviyo trades at 8.0x after a blowout Q2, a 25% discount to Intuit."

"Spruce Point believes omitting a clearly identifiable 10.71% minority interest in a principal subsidiary undermines the reliability of the Company’s financial reporting and risks overstating EBITDA, profits, and cash flow available to SGHC shareholders."

"Porch points investors to focus heavily on Gross Profit (Margin) as a key metric and valuation benchmark. As a result, Spruce Point has carefully scrutinized this metric and finds irrefutable evidence to suggest Porch is inflating Gross Profit (Margin)."

"Airbus has an essential role to play in the long-term solution to de-carbonise aviation and must adopt a strong leadership position in advocating for the mandatory phase-in of low carbon synthetic fuels, even if this increases the cost of air transport."

"Amcor screens as if its valuation is reasonable for a global paper and packaging company. In addition, its sales and earnings are temporarily showing growth from the addition of Bemis, but as we've illustrated, there is underlying revenue deterioration."

"TransMedics has now essentially forced the transplant center; if you want access to this technology for their patient, then the transplant center is not able to share a plane with us...they have to go and use the TransMedics-owned and operated aircraft."

"Prior to Starboard's first public letter to the Company on December 21, 2011, AOL's stock price had materially underperformed both the broader equity markets and its Peer Groups over almost any measurement period since its spin-off from Time Warner Inc."

"One of the study investigators told us that they simply excluded kids who couldn’t swallow a tablet – a damning admission, consistent with the ex-employee’s comment that Soleno allegedly resorted to tricks like applesauce to get kids to swallow tablets."

"The KOL stated that key Vykat trial investigators and other endocrinologists are “uncomfortable” with the drug’s diabetes risk and the potential of a post-approval safety-signal fiasco – and feared that Soleno is covering up the risks with “propaganda.”"

"Given that the trials with higher doses were flops with all manner of junk statistical and other tricks, as we detail in a later section, the sudden dose reduction dose is telling as companies typically try higher doses to elicit a therapeutic response."

"TransMedics pump is the kind of obscene, unnecessary contraption that can only exist in the US healthcare system – the Medicare equivalent of the $10,000 toilet seat, $400 screw, and other schemes by defense contractors to fleece the federal government."

"Leidos management has emphasized that a cornerstone of its Dynetics acquisition was to leverage itself to hypersonics growth. Yet, in less than a year after the acquisition, there is already evidence to suggest investors could be set for disappointment."

"In short, shareholders are demanding change now, and Elliott remains committed to providing them with a clear choice between continued industry-lagging performance under an incumbent leadership team that has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promises."

"Starboard’s average return on a 13D filing is 22.2% (versus an average of 5.0% for the S&P500 during the same time periods). However, when they have received a board seat, their average 13D return has been 27.8% versus 8.4% for the S&P500. — 13D Monitor"

"JDS Uniphase estimates that network capacity can be increased by 1,000 times in the next ten years without adding much equipment to macro towers through a multiplier effect of adding spectrum, carrying voice over LTE (VoLTE), and relying on small cells."

""it is possible that some of our activities, such as stock-option compensation paid to physicians or our practice of loaning equipment to customers at no additional cost, could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws." — Procept 2023 10-K"

"Starboard's average return on a 13D filing is 22.2% (versus an average of 5.0% for the S&P500 during the same time periods). However, when they have received a board seat, their average 13D return has been 27.8% versus 8.4% for the S&P500. — 13D Monitor"

"Quantumscape incubated at @khoslaventures with 5 time CEO and EIR Jagdeep Singh. Took patient 10yrs to deep technology, bold first product risk but can return the fund and make huge dent in EV consumer experience (2x range, 15min charge)! — Vinod Khosla"

""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." — Ex-executives and employees"

"“..there will be times when CLR may outspend its internally generated cash flow. However, so long as it is earning the returns on investment in the incremental barrel produced by these borrowings... this should be of minor concern.” — Moody's March 2012"

"Mr. Golub's refocusing of American Express in the 1990s has been called "one of the most impressive turnarounds of a large public corporation in history"(1) and led to over 750% share price appreciation during his tenure — Salomon Smith Barney 4/13/1999"

"Data from Accountability India shows that despite being amongst the highest spending states in India, at current FX rates, the 60k rupees per student that Himachal Pradesh spent in 2017-2018 only amounts to roughly US$ $720, a fraction of U.S. spending."

"Wats, K, et al, The Convergent AF Ablation Procedure: Evolution of a Multidisciplinary Approach to AF Management We extensively reviewed the references used in this study and believe that the characterization of many references was sloppy. — Footnote 13"

"In September 2010 my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a short time to live. I started him on the products and within 3 days he was out of bed and able to walk around the yard. He is still with me today. — Anonymous website testimonial"

"“this is just the registered address, but nobody works here...They all work in Beijing it seems, all of them, this is just the registered address, this is not their workplace, it’s in Beijing” — Manager of the building in which YDT has its headquarters."

""...TWX's last-minute effort raises some awkward questions about the earlier comments of Mr. Parsons about withdrawing from the deal. If buying MGM was too expensive, as he had said, how would he justify an even higher offer later?" — The New York Times"

""I-U-L remember, I told you to write down index universal life. If you can qualify for that baby, your future is brighter than the sun. You need sunglasses to see your future because it's so bright." — Spruce Point Field Research From A Recruiting Agent"

"So I think what you will see is retention will probably actually go up as we go through this phase. And then, we want to get back to active recruiting which is another word for opening new Nutrition Clubs. — Greg Probert, Herbalife Ltd. - President, COO"

"One former employee said media coverage and external perceptions seemed at times to drive the company's roadmap and business strategy, with executives aiming to maintain a steady drumbeat of product and partnership announcements. — Former Porch Employee"

"Viterra, in the ordinary course of business, does not prepare long-term financial projections, and consequently, Viterra could not provide Bunge with illustrative long-term financial projections in connection with the Acquisition — 2023 Proxy Disclosure"

"…花王は競争力のあるグローバルプレーヤーとなり、バイヤスドルフやロレアルなどの成功に続くことができるとオアシスは考えます…パーソナルケア＆化粧品事業に注力することにより、花王は競争力のあるグローバルプレーヤーとなり、バイヤスドルフやロレアルなどの成功に続くことができるとオアシスは考えます。花王に必要なのは、中核ブランドに焦点を合わせ、信頼できるマーケティング・ブランディング・販売戦略に基づき、一貫性のある海外戦略を策定し、意欲的な成長を実現・推進できる経営陣です。 — Oasis Management"

"“they’re under a federal investigation” for “giving kickbacks to different transplant programs...Blade’s getting into trouble...they’re about to get kicked in the teeth.” — CEO of a major OPO (Organ Procurement Organization), longtime industry executive"

"DURING A SURGICAL PROCEDURE TO IMPLANT THE INSPIRE SYSTEM, SHORTLY AFTER PUTTING THE STIMULATION CUFF ON, THE PATIENT CODED AND HIS HEART RATE WENT DOWN TO 28. AN EMERGENCY TEAM RESPONDED IN THE OPERATING ROOM AND PROVIDED TREATMENT. — FDA Safety Report"

"Starboard’s average return on a 13D filing is 22.3% (versus an average of 2.9% for the S&P500 during the same time periods). However, when they have received a board seat, their average 13D return has been 31.6% versus 1.5% for the S&P500. — 13D Monitor"

"Preceding studies have shown that unbilled receivables may lead either to earnings management or accounting fraud and issued warnings for stakeholders to carefully observe unbilled receivables. — Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, 2019"

"Consolidation in the financial services industry could adversely affect our revenues by eliminating some of our existing and potential clients and could make us increasingly dependent on a more limited number of clients — Broadridge Notable Risk Factors"

"Хотел бы уточнить о возможности размещения четырех сирот из ДНР в вашем отеле 22-27 марта 2026 г. Только вот вывезли их из освобожденных территорий. Милые девочки возрастом 14-17 лет. Красотки! У всех удочерение на финальном этапе, их уже ожидают семьи."

"Starboard’s average return on a 13D filing is 22.2% (versus an average of 5.0% for the S&P500 during the same time periods). However, when they have received a board seat, their average 13D return has been 27.8% versus 8.4% for the S&P500. — 13D Monitor"

"We respectfully ask BP's Board of Directors to consider the following six actions: (i) remove medium-term Scope 3 targets (reduction of 10-15% by 2025; 20-30% by 2030) and qualify 2050 target (Net-Zero) as a target to be reached 'in line with Society'."

"Ex-employee: Far-fetched that QS would ever be competitive with rapidly falling Li-ion battery costs; Li-ion was $200/kWh 10 years ago when QS started and set a cost to get to, but will soon be $80/kWh; QS approach “orders of magnitude” more expensive."

"Marathon today reports lower RINs expense than merchant peers because Speedway reports no RINs revenue. If Speedway were a separate company, it would recognize higher revenue from RINs commensurate with the higher cost of RINs at Marathon’s refineries."

"CPI Seemingly Materially Exaggerates the Occupancy Rates of its Prague & Warsaw Office — These Properties Supposedly Have the Highest Occupancy Rates in its Entire Office Portfolio. The Inflated Occupancy Rates Likely Justify Inflated Asset Valuations."

"Current investors trading TEM's stock may not be aware that the CEO was COO of HA-LO Industries (NYSE: HMK), which went bankrupt after acquiring Lefkofsky's Starbelly.com. His current bio fails to disclose this controversial period of his work history."

"Without the surplus emergency funding that supported excessive spending for the past three years, and facing weak economic growth, inflation, and rising labor costs, we believe K-12 district leaders will be forced to make difficult budgeting decisions."

"We can see this quite clearly in company guidance. For its $1.85 billion of budgeted Capex, production from the end of last year to the end of this year is expected to be flat, while the “overspend” (their euphemism for cash burn) will be $200 million."

"During the monitoring period, the highest gift revenue we observed for a dating channel room was approximately RMB 150,000 in a week, while weekly gift earnings for the top 10 dating performers as of March 2020 ranged from 16,000 up to 99,000 per week."

"We believe a clear and publicly communicated, value creation-oriented and aspirational plan tailored to DND’s opportunity set will be instrumental in attracting and retaining highly skilled talent and creating value for shareholders over the long term."

"P&G’s $6bn of COGS reduction target from FY 2011 to 2016 translates into less than 3% annual COGS efficiency. Many CPG peers undertaking productivity initiatives have demonstrated significantly higher annual COGS productivity in the range of 3.5% to 4%"

"WD-40 talks about its market dominance and great market position. Spruce Point believes it is a market that others chose to largely underinvest in because there either isn’t enough growth, or its not financially attractive enough to deepen the channel."

"Despite little discussion of competition in China from Ballard, Spruce Point believes that the “Sinohytec chain” is best positioned to capture the China fuel cell opportunity given relationships with influential research universities and manufacturers."

"While Samsara wants investors to know that it is ahead of the curve in AI, continues to invest in the technology and that it is a key competitive advantage, it does not freely disclose that its practices have historically been to give it away for free."

"C3.ai ascribes a $60 million annual value to the “in-kind” donation of its unlimited AI Suite (including $10m of runtime). However, that appears to be unusually large relative to the fair market value of what it receives from its two largest customers."

"Oklo falls squarely in the second camp, which is a shame because rather than changing the narrative of a technology that has never lived up to promises, its eventual struggles and losses will only cement the technology's negative historical perception."