Callouts & quotes from 1,434+ activist slides

"Hilton is a high-quality, asset-light, high-margin business with significant growth potential led by a superb management team"

"The larger the difference between EV/Revenue and EV/EBITDA, the less profitable the business and the lower the EBITDA margin."

"Despite this fact, GSX's stock has been outperforming its major competitors by a large margin. There is clearly a disconnect."

"Mondelez has invested ~$1.5 billion to upgrade its manufacturing base, which should expand gross margins by ~250 bps by 2018"

"Really! "Generally" assumed margins will go up despite the fact they've consistently gone down since the acquisition closed."

"L&B's MGM campaign led to the formation of an MGM REIT, significant margin enhancement and superior balance sheet management"

"Autodesk has best-in-class gross margins, but the Company has used that advantage to mask its high operating expense ratios."

"We will show that much of this progress is an accounting mirage and that actual profitability lags by an even larger margin."

"We have found clear evidence that it is trying to push price increases, upwards of 5%, perhaps to moderate margin pressures."

"Our pro forma analysis illustrates that Stryker has the second highest SG&A margin among peers at 36.1% - 37.1% of revenues."

"Autodesk has best-in-class gross margins, but the Company has used that advantage to mask its high operating expense ratios."

"Mondelez has invested ~$1.5 billion to upgrade its manufacturing base, which should expand gross margins by ~250 bps by 2018"

"In the quarter ended September 30, 2023, Lasertec’s gross margin mysteriously collapsed from 56% to 36% with no explanation."

"We consider it a major red flag that Generac is now lowering EBITDA margin guidance by 50bps and blaming it on this reason."

"Without the subsidy from net interest revenues, BNY Mellon earns much thinner margins for the valuable services it provides"

"We believe P&G should earn a 24% EBIT margin – a substantial increase in profitability from its current EBIT margin of ~19%"

"Incremental Revenue and Profit recognized up front due to accounting change. Incremental Revenue carries 100% Gross Margin."

"Comparable supplier gross margins rarely exceed the mid-30% range, supporting our view that these systems are commoditized."

"Consumables: Typically lower margin goods Non-consumables (e.g., apparel, home furnishings): Typically higher margin goods"

"Warning: We estimate that Oatly's Gross Margin is 640bps lower when including outbound transportation and logistics costs."

"At current margins, CXW management estimates its inventory of existing beds could generate an additional ~$100mm of EBITDA"

"Management believes it can return to FY22 profitability by the end of FY24 and move toward peer margin levels thereafter."

"Management believes it can return to FY22 profitability by the end of FY24 and move toward peer margin levels thereafter."

"Is it possible that CP has always been efficient while CN (and every other U.S. Class I rail) improved margins massively?"

"New units in the U.S. generate ~30% cash EBITDA margins and ~65% pretax ROIC; new unit economics in China are even higher"

"BILL trades as a significant discount to peers despite peer level growth and significant opportunity for margin expansion"

"We estimate that net of USM, FTAI's module business is currently delivering EBITDA margins ~600bps lower than in H1 2024."

"Management believes it can return to FY22 profitability by the end of FY24 and move toward peer margin levels thereafter."

"Management believes it can return to FY22 profitability by the end of FY24 and move toward peer margin levels thereafter."

"In the near future, the operating margin will reach around 80%. — Toshiyuki Iwata, PeptiDream Investor Relations Director"

"Deliver improved revenue growth and achieve best-in-class EBITDA margins of up to 60% to 70% in the medium to long-term."

"Employer Services is materially underperforming and should achieve 35% or greater margins by FY 2022 if properly managed"

"Employer Services is materially underperforming and should achieve 35% or greater margins by FY 2022 if properly managed"

"Each of the companies is expected to see improvement in growth + profitability in 2023, largely due to margin expansion."

"The CFO talked about acquisitions being accretive to margins over-time, but the exact opposite appears to have occurred."

"Spruce Point believes that MSCI's segment reporting gives management wide latitude to manipulate margins to its benefit."

"Each of the companies is expected to see improvement in growth + profitability in 2023, largely due to margin expansion."

"Each of the companies is expected to see improvement in growth + profitability in 2023, largely due to margin expansion."

"Improve GoDaddy's combination of growth and margins + Improve GoDaddy's capital allocation = Significant Value Creation"

"We estimate that Smart2Pay's net profit margins ballooned from 28.5% (pre-acquisition 2019) to 49.2% (post close 2020)."

"we view it as wholly unlikely that mass market education companies are able to generate gross margins in excess of 50%."

"Commvault is not executing against this paradigm and is delivering both exceedingly low margins and low revenue growth."

"Curiously, ever since the inventory charges stopped, EVM's segment's gross margins have expanded by 540bps in YTD 2024."

"Commvault is not executing against this paradigm and is delivering both exceedingly low margins and low revenue growth."

"Peloton's interim co-CEOs are telling the same story of a recurring, high-margin subscription revenue stream business."

"As a result, we believe it would be appropriate for the company to set a formal margin target range of 18-20% by 2020."

"Spruce Point believes that Xylem’s talk of margin expansion and operating leverage is a mirage that has not succeeded."

"Outsized market growth + dominant market share + margin expansion make for a very intriguing Alibaba Group opportunity"

"Mr. Verghese: Should shareholders be worried about someone in management getting a substantial management margin call?"

"So there are clearly 2 or 3 more points of margin improvement available in the Dealer market over a planning horizon."

"We see evidence that Nidec is manipulating its reported Automotive OP margin in order to try to show an upward trend."

"We believe its EBITDAP margins are inflated by 610bps, and YoY growth is just 3.3%, not 16.1% depicted by management."

"In each of last 5 years, its gross margin exceeded ASML’s and each of the 5 largest semicap companies except for KLA."

"BWLD's largest franchisee's “4-wall” margins outperform company-owned system average by several hundred basis points"

"Achieving Wix’s margin target will drive $6 - $7 of FCF per share in 2025... Implying Wix trades at 10x - 12x PF FCF"

"What's evident is that transaction-based margins are falling hard and have compressed by ~2,500bps since March 2020."

"So, no, there is no safety margin using the actual data and anticipated steady state level (2.3 accumulation ratio)."

"As shown below, by increasing the price it pays for the tower, AMT increases its EBITDA margin from 60.0% to 73.3%."

"ADP's adjusted gross margins(1) are significantly lower than competitors despite ADP's significant scale advantages"

"If ADP cut legacy systems expense by 50% this would drive ~$150m of profit and ~180bps of margin opportunity for ES"