Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"Further, we are concerned that Mellanox has set the bar far too low. For example, even if the 2018 targets are achieved, Mellanox would still be expected to come in dead last among the peer group in terms of operating margins."

"In the balance of this letter, we outline the drivers of Phillips 66’s underperformance, the magnitude of the value-creation opportunity at hand – which we believe could be approximately 75% of upside from today’s stock price."

"Defendants knew or should have known that they were benefiting from fraudulent activity, or at a minimum, failed to exercise reasonable due diligence with respect to Petters, PCI and Redtag in connection with the Ponzi scheme."

"BP's peers such as Chevron and ExxonMobil are being much more realistic in their capital allocation: they plan to spend around 10% of their capex in the next five years on low carbon solutions, which compares with 30%+ for BP."

"Former employees of Quantumscape confirmed the color we received directly from VW, suggesting that VW was kept in the dark and that the QS CEO and Chief Sales Officer “just had it nailed” as far how to play the VW bureaucracy."

"We did so principally because we believe that the incumbent Target board has: Suboptimal composition, Made significant strategic mistakes that have destroyed shareholder value, Performed key corporate governance duties poorly."

"Private sector conflicts of interest – and outright private sector corruption – are too significant in China for investors to put any faith in market research commissioned by research subjects – it is anything but independent."

"We note that despite the increase in tenancy, the NOI situation may not have improved dramatically as during the Q1 and Q2 2023 updates the CLO notes there are rent free periods for recently executed deals in addition to Ti's."

"Prior to Starboard’s involvement, Huntsman ONLY ADDED directors to an otherwise entrenched Board. Huntsman in fact went out of its way to NOT REFRESH interconnected directors by repeatedly waiving mandatory retirement policies"

"We believe that the magnitude of this potential cost savings will be too great for many orthodontic offices to ignore – something which the current pandemic-driven pause in business will allow (and encourage) them to evaluate."

"We believe that the magnitude of this potential cost savings will be too great for many orthodontic offices to ignore – something which the current pandemic-driven pause in business will allow (and encourage) them to evaluate."

"Beginning in Q1’10, Simon consolidated its Premium Outlets segment into its Regional Malls segment. This caused its newly reported Regional Malls segment’s occupancy and sales per square foot to appear to increase meaningfully"

"An oversized board (16 directors vs. 10.8 of S&P 500) with low percentage of independent directors (62.5% vs. 85% S&P 500), very long tenure (10 years vs. 7.8 years of S&P 500) and low women participation (31% vs. 33% S&P 500)"

"Common sense indicates that if a company has already spent $73MM to outfit a “Factory of the Future” with “laboratory property, equipment, and computers,” the promotional page for it in its investor presentation would show it."

"As a chemical product manufacturer and distributor, WD-40 is subject to various laws and regulations. As can be seen from current and historical product fact sheets, the Hazardous Identification disclosures have been expanded."

"In light of GGP’s highly diversified, high quality portfolio, in a reorganization where the unsecured debt converts to equity, the court may deem the Prime rate plus 0% to be a sufficient rate of interest on GGP’s secured debt"

"The outsized ratio of net fair value gains to cost among this group underscores our concern that Burford is cherry-picking the cases to deem “concluded”, and thus avoiding scrutiny of the vast majority of its fair value gains."

"Pro forma TWC, as shown in Exhibit 3.43, is expected to have total debt of approximately $15.8 billion as of January 1, 2006 or 3.6x net debt/2005E OIBDA (with covenants allowing for maximum leverage of 5.0x total debt/OIBDA)."

"We are highly concerned that one of Aegon's largest profit drivers may be WFG. For starters, as alleged by multiple complaints, WFG may be operating a multi-level marketing insurance agency, a business model fraught with risk."

"On the date of Pershing Square’s exit, GGP, including a shareholder’s interest in the Howard Hughes and Rouse spinoffs, traded at more than 100 times the price at which we first began accumulating our position in November 2008"

"We believe that, were shareholders to approve the transaction, this impending patent cliff will continue to be a massive overhang on Bristol-Myers shares – much like it has been for Celgene shares – for the foreseeable future."

"Spruce Point believes that much of MSCI's core index business has been commoditized and that its "New Growth" areas require a transformation which we believe will ultimately prove too difficult and costly for MSCI to surmount."

"Steve Jewett was one of two original Audit Committee members of UEC and he failed to disclose a troubling history. Mr. Jewett was barred by the CA institute from auditing any public companies after he mishandled another audit."

"Warning: There's a 40% delta between Porch's claimed customer lead economics from ISN vs. expert's opinions. $25 vs. $14-$15. Porch's assumed average revenue of $4 per inspection also appears impossible given volume discounts."

"In our opinion, Porch gave a long-winded and non-sensical explanation, as to why it booked $33m as stock-based compensation expense when Lowe's sold a portion of its equity for $4.0 million ($0.25 per share) to CEO Ehrlichman."

"Warning: There's a 40% delta between Porch's claimed customer lead economics from ISN vs. expert's opinions. $25 vs. $14-$15. Porch's assumed average revenue of $4 per inspection also appears impossible given volume discounts."

"BR stopped disclosing the percentage of its recurring backlog that is not yet live, or recognized in any form. BR talked about backlog as a giving one-year visibility, but recently extended it to two years without explanation."

"An oversized board (16 directors vs. 10.8 of S&P 500) with low percentage of independent directors (62.5% vs. 85% S&P 500), very long tenure (10 years vs. 7.8 years of S&P 500) and low women participation (31% vs. 33% S&P 500)"

"On the date of Pershing Square's exit, GGP, including a shareholder's interest in the Howard Hughes and Rouse spinoffs, traded at more than 100 times the price at which we first began accumulating our position in November 2008"

"BHP's c.US$19.9 billion of US onshore acquisitions has led to US$13.1 billion of write-downs, and negative pre-tax free cash flow(1) since purchase of US$9.4 billion for an asset currently valued by brokers at c.US$6.5 billion"

"We believe Macy’s will be worth approximately $70 per share following the creation of the two JVs (this is before value creation from additional real estate monetization, further improved operations, and credit card earnings)."

"Bunge may think it is a stable REIT by using FFO as a term and projecting ample “discretionary” cash flow. Based on our more conservative analysis, we see its discretionary cash flow as weak and not even covering its dividend."

"We have compiled a diverse slate of experienced chemical executives and seasoned public company board members who we believe will help instill accountability, improve performance, and demand operational excellence at Huntsman."

"Given that Ginkgo steadily draws down the deferred revenue account on its balance to create revenue on its income statement, the prospectus is signaling that related parties will continue to be the source of “growth” in sales."

"EBITDA add-backs. Very aggressive; includes uncapped pro forma cost savings, synergies and operating expense reductions resulting from transactions and expected to be taken within 18 months, determined in good faith by Parent."

"In the balance of this letter, we outline the drivers of Phillips 66's underperformance, the magnitude of the value-creation opportunity at hand – which we believe could be approximately 75% of upside from today's stock price."

"Even using DuPont's choice of comparables, which we disagree with, and their market capitalization-weighting methodology, DuPont has underperformed the benchmarks in the more normalized economic environment of the last 4 years"

"Managing retail chains is very much a family affair for the Rossys - at both stores. Perhaps Neil was going to be anointed CEO of Dollarama regardless of the caliber of other potential candidates. Let's hope he's not Commodus!"

"Foundations are required to file an IRS form, yet we could locate no evidence of the foundation’s existence on the IRS database, nor of any grants beyond a small, local biotech incubator that appears to be a business activity."

"CEO Gerstel's official biography does not mention that he was instrumental in growing Lumenis Ltd. (formerly ESC Medical Systems). His LinkedIn bio says he was VP of Operations, but an earlier bio says Chief Operating Officer."

"Based on our estimated reported dairy farm construction costs, these estimates suggest that since going public, Huishan has overstated average dairy farm CapEx by one third (~RMB 29 million) to over one half (~RMB 54 million)."

"Rating agencies were material contributors to the credit crisis as their inaccurate ratings allowed for the issuance of trillions of dollars of securities and derivatives which generated trillions of dollars of losses globally"

"To ensure the election of Nelson Peltz and Jay Rasulo, it is essential that shareholders vote “FOR” Nelson Peltz and Jay Rasulo, and “WITHHOLD” on Michael B.G. Froman, Maria Elena Lagomasino, and all three Blackwells Nominees."

"Müller’s repetitive use of the phrase “I mean” also stands out (1). This kind of phraseology is used when one wishes to convey that they had no choice in the matter or that anyone would have done the same thing in their shoes."

""The Box Board remains unified in its ongoing commitment to acting in the best interests of all stockholders, and to ensuring Box benefits from world-class corporate governance and oversight." — Box Press Release, May 17, 2021"

"Our past acquisitions, as well as any acquisitions that we may complete in the future, may be unsuccessful or result in other risks or developments that adversely affect our financial condition and results. — XPO Annual Report"

"Figure 1 (clockwise from top left): Titanium scrap; Finished titanium metal powder; IperionX metal production team with a drum of finished titanium metal powder in front of the HAMR furnace at the Titanium Production Facility."

"In another departure from conventional wisdom, Singleton eschewed reported earnings, the key metric on Wall Street at the time, running his company instead to optimize free cash flow. — William N. Thorndike, Jr., The Outsiders"

"We account for the principal reductions as an offset to our cloud and compute spend within selling, general and administrative expense in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. — Tempus AI Disclosure"

"If there is one way to sum up our past and future success...what it really comes down to [is] the Buffalo Wild Wings fan experience. All other value creation opportunities flow from brand strength — James Schmidt, COO, 8/16/16"

"“I would say it’s getting worse. I can notice. They used to be not that delayed. They could still keep a majority of their orders on time. But recently, I think it’s just getting worse.” — Former Twist employee, director-level"

"“The number one thing I hear from them is that they promise a lot of sweet things in the beginning. They promise a lot, and they overcommit... they really cannot deliver on time.” — Executive at Genscript, key Twist competitor"

""Outside of Silicon Valley, they're totally invisible. And I mean the fact that the company has been around for 12 years and nobody has heard their name, that's not easy, right?" — Former C3 Employee, Financial Services Sector"

"“The weighted average contract duration for commercial Entities in the year ended April 30, 2020 was 35 months, while the weighted average contract duration for federal agency Entities was 11 months.” — From the IPO Prospectus"

"I kinda started to laugh...that is such a narrow market. You can't just go mixing things and send it to people. Prescription drugs are FDA approved as they are, not mixed together in some other formula. — Former HIMS Executive"

""Early on, we did a number of market studies to see what resonated best, and we're very confident that the Vitalite brand is what we will come to market with here in North America." — Saputo President & COO (Q4 2021 Conf Call)"

"“The machine itself is $2 million, but beyond that, the chips cost a significant amount of money, which for a biotech or someone who is cost-conscious, it becomes a limiting factor at that point.” — Harbour Biomed ex-executive"

"One expert told us that anemia was observed across age groups in trials of endothelin receptor antagonists, meaning that IgAN patients would also likely suffer declines in hemoglobin. — Anonymous expert involved in SONAR trial"

"“As I see it, patients increasingly are going to be producing, consuming and demanding access to their own medical data. They’re going to want to call it up on their smart phones and tablets.” — Jonathan Bush, criticizing Epic"

"“The innovation is so deeply embedded in Apple's culture... It's deeply embedded in the values -- it's in the DNA of the company. And so I feel fantastic about it. There's no better place for innovation.” — Apple CEO, Tim Cook"