Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"We believe that, should the economic consequences of the pandemic grow increasingly severe – a distinct possibility as unemployment grows more severe by the week – the pandemic could pose even greater downside risk to Forescout's full-year sales."

"The center appears to be spending recklessly on anything “new” because it has to; appears to have done no diligence on BLI; and became nervous and asked us for details about other customers’ experience: “we just spend money; we don’t make money.”"

"Despite all of our findings that indicate Stryker's business is under increasing financial stress from underlying fundamental challenges and more expensive and levered acquisitions, Stryker's management took home a record in compensation in 2021."

"While Peloton has enjoyed a first mover advantage, the lack of differentiation of its bike has finally caught up to it as the competition is not only making virtually identical exercise bikes but ones that are both more affordable and functional."

"Insiders have been relentless sellers of MGNI, at an average price of $8.85 per share. If insiders truly believed in the upside potential of the merger, it is more likely they would have been buying stock cheap ahead of the recent price increase."

"Was this a result of an effort by the Company to cover up a mistake and request an upwards adjustment, or did the county government simply see a new multinational corporation move into the neighborhood and perceive an opportunity to boost its tax"

"On the earlier slide, ROAD referenced its #22 position on ENR’s “The Top 50 Domestic Heavy Contractors” list. Spruce Point discovered why ROAD stopped referencing its position in subsequent presentations: because it no longer appears on the list."

"...however, Elliott believes that BMC's significant underperformance is due to a deficit on the Board of relevant and timely experience in Enterprise Software, emerging business models ("SaaS" and "Cloud"), and critical skillsets (Large Cap, M&A)"

"We find that Bunge has not been completely transparent in terms of qualitative description about Viterra's contribution to the overall Company. There is one potential reason for this fact pattern: the results have been terrible and underwhelming."

"10. Aside from its “customers” being related parties and effectively fake, we believe that Ginkgo takes the scam into even more aggressive territory by booking revenue from them that is simply fictitious, overstated, and/or based on overcharging."

"Any reasonable estimate of Verint's M&A sales contribution would suggest that the Company is experiencing dramatic organic top-line contraction – yet management almost never addresses organic growth on calls, nor is it asked about it by analysts."

"What happened though is through this process, TSA changed the rules of engagement and prevented CLEAR from cross-marketing to that population. And I think that highly diminishes the value of the TSA pre-check element financially in the ecosystem."

"Stop lowering the bar with targets such as negative free cash flow and a return on invested capital well below the Company's estimated cost of capital - unconscionable targets that the Compensation Committee has approved the last two fiscal years"

"Vivion uses fair value gains to inflate the values of its UK hotels – these gains are based on aggressively low cap rates and by inflating rental income through having disclosed related parties pay rents that appear to be too high to be economic."

"Mr. Riedel's extensive knowledge of the technology industry and intellectual property licensing, as well as his significant leadership experience as a senior executive and a public company director, makes him well qualified to serve on the Board."

"Based on our view of the operations of Casino, Tesco and Carrefour, and how Casino treats gains from asset sales compared to its competitors, we believe Casino's accounting materially misrepresents profitability from its France retail operations."

"We do not like the fact that insiders have been selling into share buybacks while the Company levers itself up with short-term debt to support those repurchases. It appears that the execs are levering up the business in part to enrich themselves."

"Miller appears to have a pattern of association with questionable PWS therapies, as evidenced by her recent efforts on behalf of Tryptamine Therapeutics (ASX:TYP), an Australian microcap stock promotion focused on “precision psychedelic therapy.”"

"I have more than concern about [cardiac risk]. In fact, I’m writing an article on it...there’s an article that’s going to be coming out that I’ve written on this trial...I’ve been asked to write my opinion on this trial in the medical literature."

"Endocrinologist #2 expressed surprise that diazoxide was even approved with a Prader-Willi indication, particularly given its mechanism of action is to basically raise blood sugar and induce hyperglycemia in a population already prone to diabetes"

"I'm probably going to switch everybody over to the generic anyway...I was willing to give the branded option a try on that first one, see what it's like, and get a little experience with it...but long-term, definitely not...why would you do that?"

"Given the close structural similarity between the histamine receptor and the hERG channel, a histamine receptor antagonist like terfenadine or pitolisant has inherent off-target activity with hERG – that is, cardiotoxicity is a feature not a bug."

"The conduct appears to be an open secret inside the company, with ex-employees conveying skepticism at highly unusual prescription volumes and patterns in various territories, where reps were "finding" far more narcolepsy patients than plausible."

"ROAD infrequently provides guidance as to how much of its revenue growth it expects to be organic. However, in the recent instances that it has commented on organic growth goals, we find that the Company has been falling short of its projections."

"Dr. Vivek Reddy is one of the nation's premier cardiac electrophysiologists. He is a consultant for many companies in the PFA field, including PLSE and Kardium. His statement above about Kardium is a lot stronger than what he said regarding PLSE."

"Lasertec never explained what was different about the ACTIS tools sold in Q1 such that they had no margin – each tool is the same, and the obvious implication is that if those are worthless, then so is the $1.2B of inventory on its balance sheet."

"We strongly believe that additional change is necessary at the Company given its poor operating performance, long-term destruction of shareholder value, serious corporate governance concerns and failure to honor the spirit of our 2012 settlement."

"We believe that the Exit Multiple should reflect this significant change in the business as MLP-qualifying income in an MLP structure is extremely valuable to other MLPs and can serve to reduce TPCG's cash tax costs and lower its cost of capital."

"Our core customers continues to come back to us and spend about $125 per shopping trip. They shop with us 2 or 3 times per year and come to Boot Barn because we are the authority for this lifestyle in the entire country. — CEO Fox, August 4, 2023"

"Brad Blum is the longest tenured leader in Olive Garden’s recent history. Mr. Blum led Olive Garden through its very successful turnaround in the 1990s. That is why we went out and recruited Mr. Blum to be one of our nominees — Starboard Value LP"

"“I don’t mean to offend any Texans in the room, but if you ever met anybody from Texas, those guys know how to gamble, and if you let them stick a hole in the ground with your money, they’re going to do it.” — Stanley Druckenmiller, Jan. 18, 2015"

"“Our fundamentals underpin what I continue to believe is an exceptionally rare opportunity in the public market: a beloved consumer brand that is built upon an enduring subscription membership business model.” — CEO Dudum on Q3 2021 Earnings Call"

"“reconstitute itself and upgrade the Company’s leadership such that it can objectively assess the best path forward for Southwest’s shareholders, employees, and customers. We believe this process needs to commence immediately.” — Artisan Partners"

"I guess you’re the equivalent of building Battlestar Galactica for a financial firm. I mean, you get a benefit of $600mm four years down the road. I still feel like we don’t have enough details about milestones along the way. — Anonymous Investor"

"Revenues increased by $52.1 million, or 11.6%, to $499.5 million in 2015 from $447.4 million in 2014. The increase in revenues resulted from an approximate 15% increase in volume of sales... — Caesarstone FY 2015 Revenue movement explanatory note"

""The U.S. imports more than two-thirds of its urea production, but still, if all the rumored projects became reality North America would quickly have a surplus, said David Asbridge, president of NPK Fertilizer Advisory Services." — David Asbridge"

"Biden Blocks Takeover Bid of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon — The New York Times. US Steel Shares Drop After Trump Says No Need to Sell Company — Bloomberg. Nippon Steel wants 100% of U.S. Steel, not a minority stake, report says — The Japan Times."

"I think this is a huge swing for Construction Partners. It's a completely new geography. I think they are paying full value plus plus for that business. I think they don't know Texas and they don't know Wheeler [the founder]. — Industry Executive"

"De You manager: You are talking about our pilot program...it is difficult for newcomers to take part in. Investigator: Hard to participate in? De You manager: Yes. For new stores, because we have relatively high requirements for the pilot stores."

""This deal represents a sound investment in both advanced technologies and new capabilities that build upon our decades of experience as the nation's leading propulsion provider." — Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. CEO and President Eileen Drake"

"“it was a pretty complex device, so many malfunctions...kinks so the fluids and the gas were not able to flow properly...between 5-7% of the time, they lose the organ because of a failure.” — Former employee in medical safety and clinical affairs"

""In their literature, Inspire almost pretends that oral appliances don’t exist Oral appliances are a much better first choice. A dentist makes it for you, and ADA is cranking out dentists who make these." — Sleep doctor expert call, February 2020"

"Soleno later (July 2025 Shoemaker et al presentation) shortens the standard deviations (variance) of the entire treatment timecourse making them equivalent to hide the existence of DCCR-driven metabolic toxicity as well as its progressive nature."

""None of mine continued on it either because they didn't want to or not having much effect...overall, this isn't a miracle drug, that's for sure." — Trial investigator; endocrinologist; one of the most published authorities on PWS and hyperphagia"

"people on my team...would just go and find a doctor and hey man, just try to send as many through for me as you can...if they became close with the doc, then they could...send them through. — Ex-Harmony territory manager for a large Midwest state"

"On April 1, 2018, the Company changed its method of accounting for inventories from last-in-first-out (“LIFO”) to first-in-first-out (“FIFO”) for the approximately 17% of consolidated inventory not previously valued using FIFO. — 2018 10-K, p. 55"

"Isteqは信頼性が高い産業用のアクティニックパターンマスク検査の実現に向けてかねてよりレーザーテックとの協同で開発に取り組んできた。その結果として、Isteqは超短パルスレーザーで照射される高速回転金属ターゲット（FRLMT）の技術に関してレーザーテックに対してライセンス契約で譲渡することに至った。Isteqとしては、レーザーテックと協力して同社のACTIS製品に使われるUrashima光源の基礎となるこの技術を提供できてうれしく光栄に思う。また、この協力を継続することを期待している。"

"In accordance with Item 601(b)(10) of Regulation S-K, certain information has been omitted in this exhibit 10.15 because such information is both (i) not material and (ii) would be competitively harmful if publicly disclosed. — SEC Filing Excerpt"

"“I think they started going in just before we got the ones in the U.S., so maybe 2019. I think the sixth one went in at maybe the end of 2022.” — Ushio field engineer who maintains light sources on Lasertec ACTIS A150 machines at Intel Oregon fab"

"Informed by the online reviews from anonymous current and former employees on Glassdoor, we believe the Board’s lack of diversity has permeated throughout the Company, resulting in broader issues which exacerbate the Company’s cultural problems."

"Avery recently updated its accounting for credit losses in Q1 2020, an opportune time as COVID-19 ravaged businesses across the globe. It has also subtly changed the wording on its cash flow statement from "doubtful accounts" to "credit losses"."

"Based on our belief that Procept is likely to face growth challenges, we believe the Company should trade at 5x to 9x 2025E revenue, implying a price target range of $29 to $54 per share, or approximately 30% to 60% downside from current levels."

"Crown Castle has claimed that the fiber strategy will “enhance” its dividend capacity, but fiber has never generated positive cash flow, which raises the question: How can an investment that is compounding negative cash flow help fund dividends?"

"Our local field work in Lincang and Gengma, our calls to the Lincang and Gengma Forestry Bureaus, and open source research all confirm that this alleged sale of 2,265,000 m³ of Yunnan broadleaf exceed the full available quota for natural forest."

"With potential long-term dividend per share growth in excess of 10%, comparable dividend paying companies across a range of industries suggest CCI should trade below a 4.0% yield, implying at least 27% - 43% upside at a payout ratio of 80% - 90%"

"Spruce Point believe it’s an enormous red flag to see Monolithic purchase an even larger 75,000 sqft commercial real estate property for a 35% premium just nine months after a commercial investor purchased the property, and made no improvements."

"CTC's cash conversion cycle (defined as DSO + DIO – DPO) has jumped in the first three quarters of 2019 on both a Y-o-Y and an absolute basis. This is further evidence of weakness in CTC's retail business and another sign of strain on cash flow."

"CTC's cash conversion cycle (defined as DSO + DIO – DPO) has jumped in the first three quarters of 2019 on both a Y-o-Y and an absolute basis. This is further evidence of weakness in CTC's retail business and another sign of strain on cash flow."

"I’m skeptical that these efforts will ever result in a practical quantum computer...Could we ever learn to control the more than 10^300 continuously variable parameters defining the quantum state of such a system? My answer is simple. No, never."

"The structure raises questions about whether Tempus is round-tripping value through its cash flow statement, as the Company invests $95 million into the joint venture and then receives nearly the same amount back in the form of license payments."