Callouts & quotes from 3,960+ activist slides

""[PCC] generally leverages superb execution for market share gains through pricing strategies and long-term contracts. We believe [PCC] is one of the best operators in our space, as operating margins are generally above peer companies." — Bank of America, June 4, 2014"

"We believe the market ascribes a premium multiple to MPWR based on faulty assumptions about it business; notably, that it has takeout potential, and a defensible, low cost business model that is durable enough to withstand cyclical economic and competitive pressures."

"Given the enormous difference in our results, we believe the simplest explanation for JLL’s valuation findings is that three of the six comparable properties were cherry-picked, with several smaller, higher valued properties employed to push up the average value/sqm."

"Spruce Point takes issue with Oatly’s first slide of its June 2021 Investor Presentation. The analysis is based on a 2013 study (updated in 2016) which doesn’t include its recent expansion into the U.S. and Asia, which we believe has been poorly planned and executed."

"Excluding Mr. Shoiry’s ownership, the remainder of the Board owns just 0.05%. We believe the announcement that Mr. Shoiry is retiring from the Board is a step in the right direction. However, we believe the timing is very suspicious considering our report’s findings."

"Women make up 67% of ELF’s Board, 56% of senior leadership and almost 80% of all employees. Therefore, we believe its brand equity and success is highly sensitive to the perception that it supports organizations with positive connections to women’s health and rights."

"We observe that Axon just reported its worst Q1 cash burn in its public history. Management is claiming this is due to the Taser 7 ramp, and trade-in credit terms. However, we believe there are other factors at work that will cause cash flow to remain under pressure."

"Intuit has reclassified hundreds of millions of dollars of segment operating expenses to the corporate level, which, absent more details about the changes, leads us to believe Intuit could be obfuscating the true labor costs related to its growing "expert" platforms."

"Spruce Point believes BR's real serviceable addressable market may actually be lower than the $5 billion that Broadridge promotes because it includes financial institutions' in-house solutions which are likely to be sticky, entrenched and difficult for BR to replace."

"We believe a resurgence of door-to-door pest control sales models has also been chipping away at Rollins’ ability to source new customers. In fact, as we’ll discuss later in the report, Rollins recently acquired Fox Pest Control, a large door-to-door sales operation."

"We believe this is truly a unique opportunity to unlock significant value in Hyundai Motor Group by taking the necessary steps to realign its equity value with the top-class business that the Founding Family and the leadership of the Group have built over the decades"

"Investors should be attuned to Aerojet’s large revenue miss in Q4’18 that disappointed investors by nearly 15%. Given our fundamental review of its program and revenue opportunities, we believe this is just the beginning of the revenue disappointment story unfolding."

"Investors shouldn't just listen to Spruce Point in our belief that FND's share price is overvalued. A majority of sell-side promoters have a neutral/hold/market perform rating and are waiting to see improvement in the business and believe FND's issues are temporary."

"MSCI's leverage ratio keeps rising and is at a decade high which significantly increases the risk to equity holders. At the current time, we believe it is a recipe for disaster that leverage is rising while client Retention Rate falls and competitive risks increase."

"We believe Agilent's current valuation represents a discount to intrinsic value and does not fully reflect the company's high-quality business model, increasing mix of recurring revenue, strong long-term growth potential and significant margin expansion opportunity"

"Based on our own detailed analysis, we firmly believe that Capricorn's standalone value is at least 330 pence per share – representing a 50% upside to the current share price and implying that the Proposed Merger represents a value give-away of over US$500 million."

"While BOOT is struggling, it splurged on a brand new 116,000 square feet corporate headquarters which is 37% bigger that its existing space. Spruce Point believes that BOOT should be doing more with less and not expanding SG&A while it posts poor financial results."

"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"

"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"

"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."

"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:"

"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."

"We believe that Ms. Giesselman’s significant leadership experience as a specialty chemicals industry and her expertise in growth strategies and innovation, as well as her service on a number of public company boards would make her a valuable addition to the Board."

"We believe MSCI is a classic case of a struggling company failing to transform itself while engaging in value-destructive (and even worse nepotism-like) acquisitions and share repurchases with abusive financial reporting and accounting tactics to bolster earnings."

"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:"

"“We believe that from here onwards, it will not be like in the past, whereby the prices went steadily down. Now, naturally, there is the change in the product mix and also the customers will not be reducing the prices of the hard disks that easily.” — Mr. Nagamori"

"“We believe sustained, long-term success in the HCM market requires great technology, deep domain expertise and world-class services. To win in today’s HCM market, you have to have it all…” — Carlos Rodriguez, President & CEO, Investor Day Presentation, March 2015"

"We believe the Red Lobster Sale, combined with management and the Board’s poor capital allocation, excessive corporate spending, and lack of focus on restaurant operations, has already threatened the sustainability of Darden’s investment grade rating and dividend"

"We believe the Red Lobster Sale, combined with management and the Board’s poor capital allocation, excessive corporate spending, and lack of focus on restaurant operations, has already threatened the sustainability of Darden’s investment grade rating and dividend"

"Part 12. TransMedics device has no value proposition. Even its largest customers admit it has no clinical benefit to organs, using it off-label strictly for “surgeon lifestyle” and scheduling convenience; or, we believe, in exchange for organs steered improperly."

"I am honored to have been selected and am looking forward to working with Invesco’s Board of Directors and leadership team. I believe there is great opportunity to build on the momentum Invesco has created and am excited to help continue that success. — Mr. Finke"

"The reality: not only do you have to believe in the underlying economics of the business, but you have to believe that (A) the sales today are real and self-sustaining, and (B) that the financing will continue to be there until Carvana is a sustainable business."

"Although operationally we believe SRG could be spun off in approximately 6 months, as discussed in Section XI, we would recommend a more conservative approach, with management and the Board focusing first on the operational turnaround and real estate separation."

"Although operationally we believe SRG could be spun off in approximately 6 months, as discussed in Section XI, we would recommend a more conservative approach, with management and the Board focusing first on the operational turnaround and real estate separation."

"Applying that rate of revenue contraction to each geography implies that areas outside those markets must grow 15% and 20%, respectively, to meet Street consensus, which we believe is unlikely, particularly given Skechers' challenges in the domestic U.S. market."

"In summary, the author believes IULs are complex instruments that contain features that are hard for the average consumer to understand; many of these features ultimately come with very high fees, which can threaten a policy's cash value during market downturns."

"We believe this is further evidence that INGN are nearing saturation. Would a company that is selling a market-leading product in a category that is only 11% penetrated really be seeing such significant margin pressure at such an early stage in its growth cycle?"

"Spruce Point believes investors should be outraged that management is receiving “off cycle” RSU grants to “retain” management. Is something going wrong at Stryker that the Board is helping to conceal from investors such that management needs inducements to stay?"

"Believes physicians will simply substitute generic suspension – “Yep, I agree 100%...that’s what I would do probably” – and listed similar precedents where an expensive branded drug was immediately substituted by an inexpensive generic in a different formulation"

"Spruce Point believes that the recent terrible financial results reported by Carvana continue to validate our concern about its uneconomic business model that isn’t scaling, is capital destructive, and favors insider enrichment over shareholder wealth creation."

"We believe that a key role of an independent board is to bring an outside perspective to challenge strategies that might have worked in the past but will likely need to evolve over time – contrary to Target’s board’s apparent instinct to maintain the status quo"

"We firmly believe that a comprehensive reconstitution of the Board, including the appointment of shareholder representatives and qualified independent directors, is necessary to ensure a thorough evaluation of all paths to delivering enhanced shareholder value."

"In order for [refranchising to 90%] to create value requires...selling nearly 500 stores at multiples higher than we believe are achievable...[and] trading multiple expansion to levels significantly higher than demonstrated on a sustained basis by casual diners"

"There is a $229m difference between the 2011 Adjusted EBITDA reported by Axalta and DuPont, for its Coatings business (same company, same year). We believe much of the difference is excess corporate expense, which in our view, burdens all of DuPont’s businesses"

"There is a $229m difference between the 2011 Adjusted EBITDA reported by Axalta and DuPont, for its Coatings business (same company, same year). We believe much of the difference is excess corporate expense, which in our view, burdens all of DuPont’s businesses"

"We believe that a realistic range for Net Earning Assets is $426 million to $1.0 billion, an adjustment downward of between -77.5% and -90.4%. We explain our assumptions, and why we believe they are far more realistic than RUN's, herein. — Muddy Waters Research"

"Ballard's press releases and local government officials would have you believe Foshan Feichi have produced 114 FCV buses. Based on our research, we believe they have likely produced less than 50 buses to date, and only 11 of those are licensed and on the road."

"Trian believes the mindset and culture at State Street has prioritized growth (in AUCA, AUM and revenue) over profitability. The “land grab” mentality must transition to a focus on EPS growth, return on invested capital and maximizing total shareholder returns"

"We believe that, even on reasonable base-case assumptions for growth in new products and the legacy business, respectively, Hill-Rom should miss consensus core revenue estimates by 2% – a top-line miss the likes of which the Company has not seen since Q2 FY16."

"During FY2018, PBH changed its organic revenue disclosure to “organic & proforma revenue growth” to include the benefit of the acquired brands growth. We believe investors should not give management credit for the high growth of PBH’s recently acquired brands."

"Today, we reveal why we believe EHang (NASDAQ: EH) is an elaborate stock promotion, built on largely fabricated revenues based on sham sales contracts with a customer who appears to us to be more interested in helping inflate the value of its investment in EH."

"When combining the opportunity to rationalize certain Technology and Development expenses with other growth and margin improvement opportunities, we believe GoDaddy should commit to delivering a growth + profitability metric of at least 40% by the end of 2024."

""...[We] believe that our integrated business model generates the highest long-term value...So we're committed to that" — Mark Lashier, March 6, 2025; "We can be bigger than that and we can be better than that" — Mark Lashier (on Bloomberg News), April 8, 2025"

""...[We] believe that our integrated business model generates the highest long-term value...So we're committed to that" — Mark Lashier, March 6, 2025; "We can be bigger than that and we can be better than that" — Mark Lashier (on Bloomberg News), April 8, 2025"

"“The safety and well-being of patients is of the utmost importance to Pfizer, and we believe this action is in the best interest of patients,” said Aida Habtezion, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Worldwide Medical and Safety at Pfizer. — Pfizer Press Release"

"Trian believes the successful execution of management's new strategic plan could result in Lazard earning slightly more than $3.50 per share in 2014, which could translate into an implied value per share of more than double the current trading price of $23.09"

"Intuit is one of the most US-centric software companies. We believe Intuit management often talks up the 50% international customer base of Mailchimp to suggest that it will catalyze international success despite years of struggles and little product synergy."

"PBH reports “non-GAAP adjusted free cash flow.” Spruce Point believes this is particularly egregious and aggressive, as the Company adds back integration and transition costs, therefore ignoring the costs of M&A but wanting to show investors all the benefits."

"We believe that WTRG subtly cut its organic growth estimate for water rate base growth between January and February 2023. The latest investor presentation uploaded February 27, 2023 now includes acquisitions to achieve the targets 6-7% rate base CAGR growth."