Callouts & quotes from 1,316+ activist slides

""Under the turnaround Helly Hansen overhauled its management and cut its product lines by a quarter. Working capital fell to a third from more than a half of its sales as it reduced inventories and cut capital spending." — Financial Times (FT); "We focused on the basics of getting cash in as quickly as we could... Quite frankly the first three to four months weren't particularly pleasant... We've taken the business from being a sales-driven company in the last 10 years to a more consumer-focused one" — Paul Stoneham, CEO Helly Hansen"

"“Because when we delight our members, we can drive more engagement, revenue and profit than the competition...Our goals are to sustain healthy revenue growth, expand operating margin and deliver growing free cash flow... Since our global launch in 2016, we’ve been able to invest heavily in our slate...while steadily increasing our operating margins (up more than 5X, from 4% to 21% over the same period) and growing our free cash flow (from negative $3.3B in 2019 to positive $6.9B in 2023).” — Netflix Q4 2023 Letter to Shareholders"

"Because when we delight our members, we can drive more engagement, revenue and profit than the competition...Our goals are to sustain healthy revenue growth, expand operating margin and deliver growing free cash flow... Since our global launch in 2016, we've been able to invest heavily in our slate...while steadily increasing our operating margins (up more than 5X, from 4% to 21% over the same period) and growing our free cash flow (from negative $3.3B in 2019 to positive $6.9B in 2023). — Netflix Q4 2023 Letter to Shareholders"

""Citing some specific local GAAP requirements in how to report cash and equivalents in condensed local statutory accounts filings to build a story about potential double-counting of cash at Group level, when all these intercompany transactions are eliminated in the Consolidated financials, and cash amounts are systematically audited at both local and consolidated levels based on bank confirmations and other controls with all required communication between accounting teams and auditors." — Eurofins Press Release, June 25, 2024"

"On December 4, 2012 the freenet.de GmbH (whose sole shareholder is the company), closed a contract with Media Ventures GmbH, Cologne, selling all of its freeXmedia GmbH shares. This transaction was carried on January 1, 2013. For the sale, a purchase price of T€ 4,080 was agreed. The amount was split in T€ 2,080 thousand payable in cash and the remaining T€ 2,000 payable until December 31, 2014 through offset with services from a media contract, which freenet AG concluded with the buyer. — freenet's 2012 Annual Report"

""On 2 January 2019 the Group acquired 89,8% holding stake in three companies which hold three office buildings in Germany through a share deal. The total consideration paid in cash amounted to EUR 104 million, out of which EUR 65 million was already paid in 2018. The acquisition was treated as an asset acquisition in which the company acquired investment property of EUR 152 million and bank loans amounting to EUR 52 million and working capital for amount of EUR 4 million." — Vivion 1H 2019 financial statements, p. 19"

""Our view on capital is that it's not our capital. This capital belongs to shareholders both the capital in the form of debt and equity and we like the discipline of coming to the market when the capital investments exceed that of our cash flow." — CEO Jay Brown, July 2017; "We've invested in fiber because we think it enhances long-term dividends per share. And that's the measure upon which we make all of our discretionary capital investments, whether it's in towers or on the fiber side." — CEO Jay Brown, April 2018"

"Our cash equivalents are primarily comprised of investments in several large institutional money market accounts, with original maturity of three months or less. Outstanding payments are included within "Cash and cash equivalents" and "Accounts payable and accrued liabilities" correspondingly on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. At October 2, 2020 and January 3, 2020, $166 million and $169 million, respectively, of outstanding payments were included within "Cash and cash equivalents." — Leidos Q3 2020 10-Q"

""On May 4, 2020, we completed the divestiture of the Security & Detection Systems and MacDonald Humfrey Automation solutions business ("airport security and automation business") to Leidos, Inc. for $ 1 billion (net cash proceeds of $ 950 million after selling costs and estimated purchase price adjustments), subject to final customary purchase price adjustments as set forth in the definitive sale agreement, and recognized a pre-tax loss of $26 million during the quarter ended July 3, 2020." — L3Harris Q1 2020 10-Q"

""Some companies do not include overdrafts in the definition of cash; instead, they include it in accounts payable. Consequently, the company treats the overdraft as an operating activity (change in accounts payable). So, the company includes the negative cash as a change in a liability in the operating section of the cash flow statement. (Some accountants treat overdrafts as a financing activity, but they clear quickly. Therefore, an operating activity classification is more appropriately.)" — CPA Hall Talk"

"On May 3, 2022, the Company's board of directors amended the share repurchase program adopted on March 4, 2022 to increase the aggregate amount the Company is permitted to repurchase from an aggregate amount of up to $150m to an aggregate amount of up to $600m of the Company's common stock. Additionally on May 3, 2022, the Company's board of directors adopted a dividend policy. Pursuant to this policy, the board intends to pay aggregate cash dividends of $1.50 per share of common stock per year. — Source"

"Monsanto announced a fundamental change in its idea of an appropriate capital structure...Monsanto intends to begin an accelerated share repurchase program of $6b in 4Q:F14 or 1Q:F15 and to repurchase $11b in shares over a two year period or approximately 85 million shares or 16% of outstanding common [shares]. Monsanto is a good free cash flow generator and maintaining a 1.5x leverage target would imply meaningful future repurchase beyond the current $11b target by mid 2016. — JP Morgan (6/26/14)"

"During fiscal 2018, we generated $43.3 million in cash from operating activities compared to $59.1 million in cash generated from operating activities in fiscal 2017. The decrease was primarily a result of higher cash uses for income tax payables, accounts payables, accounts receivables and inventory. The decrease was partially offset by higher comparable net income, additional depreciation and amortization expense and deferred revenues and customer advances. — Mercury Systems FY 18 10-K, p. 41"

"I would categorize Dropbox revenue growth as mid-growth (~20% YoY top-line growth). The interesting part is in the net income and free cash flow. The Company has guided to $1.6 billion revenue in FY19. If we apply a 20% growth rate to FY20, that would imply a ~$1.9 billion revenue. If we take management estimates of $375m of free cash flow, it would imply ~20x forward EV/FCF, below high growth profitable peers that routinely trade at 50x EV/FCF. — Seeking Alpha, "Finding Value in SaaS, Jan 2020"

"And we should like to mention that although the amount for the structural reforms and other adjustments is JPY 40 billion, the actual cash out would be, in other words, the actual expenditures would be 10% of that. And what we will be doing is the cash out itself will be in the amount of JPY 4 billion. And so therefore, for the remaining JPY 36 billion, it will be on a noncash basis. And in other words, what will be carried out are impairments, or we'll be taking out reserves. — Nagamori (CEO)"

"Reported EPS included a $0.75 ($18.7m) acquisition gain related to our earn-out accrual with Biotix... The Biotix acquisition was structured with a large potential earn-out component. While we are very pleased with the Biotix acquisition and expect their operating profit to grow by more than 35% in the first two years, they fall short of the earn-out level. As a result, we recorded a one-time, non-cash gain to reverse a significant portion of the original amount. — CFO Vadala Q4'18 Conf Call"

"Gandler: "Okay, great. And last question. Bemis' working capital to sales is twice Amcor's, roughly twice Amcor's. Is there something structural there or is that an opportunity you guys have identified as well?" CEO Delia: "I would say it's an opportunity we've identified as well.... Look, is it going to get to our level? I don't know. But what we see without question, without hesitation there is the cash synergy opportunity from optimising working capital." — Analyst Gandler and CEO Delia"

"On May 4, 2020, we completed the divestiture of the Security & Detection Systems and MacDonald Humfrey Automation solutions business ("airport security and automation business") to Leidos, Inc. for $ 1 billion (net cash proceeds of $ 950 million after selling costs and estimated purchase price adjustments), subject to final customary purchase price adjustments as set forth in the definitive sale agreement, and recognized a pre-tax loss of $26 million during the quarter ended July 3, 2020."

"All of our foreign subsidiaries currently operate in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar and a significant portion of our consolidated cash balance is denominated in these foreign functional currencies, particularly at our U.K. subsidiary which operates in Pound Sterling. As a result, our cash and cash equivalents balances are subject to the effects of the fluctuations in these functional currencies against the U.S. Dollar at the end of each reporting period. — WD-40 2019 Annual Report"

""The determinant of whether the [Lightower] transaction is value-creative beyond the inherent tower/fiber multiple arbitrage will depend on the company's ability to replicate, if not surpass, the return profile of its macro business across its fiber footprint." — Barclays, July 2017; "Our ROIC trends are robust, even with our continuing investments in younger assets with significant long-term upside but lower initial tenancy and cash flow." — CFO Tom Bartlett, American Tower, July 2018"

"Generac's press release fails to address that it acquired the business from Caledonia Investments, a public investment vehicle listed in the UK. Caledonia acquired the business from its founders, who cashed out in October 2018. The business was sold for £162 million ($213.1 million). Generac's press release also failed to disclose it paid $420.7 million, or a 97% valuation increase, for a business that barely grew revenues and showed margin deterioration in the past few years."

""In 2013, we granted two separate performance-based full-value awards..." — MPWR 2014 Proxy Statement; "In February 2012, we adopted our Compensation Recoupment Policy, which permits the Board to recoup any excess performance-based cash compensation paid to key members of our executive team if the financial results on which the performance-based compensation awards were based are restated due to fraud or intentional misconduct by the executive" — MPWR 2014 Proxy Statement."

""The impact was relatively minor in the quarter. When we changed the methodology with respect to how we record recoveries from a cash basis to an accrual basis, we did that in Q3 as we talked about at that time. We said there would be a spillover effect into Q4. It's probably a few million bucks on the write-off rate, and we've disclosed that in the MD&A, in the schedule, the mice print below the, if you will, the table." — Dean McCann, CFO, Q4 2018 Call, February 14, 2019"

"It’s all a question of what Time Inc.’s revenue growth potential is and how they see their business model evolving, and how stable are Time Inc.’s revenues going forward...Can Time Inc. be a killer brand online? If not, they’d better figure out ways to harvest cash from cost-cutting...the Company’s publishing division was among the least integrated with TWX’s online businesses, especially AOL — Richard Greenfield, Fulcrum Global Partners (quoted in The New York Times)."

"The current average sell-side price target implies 13% upside, which we believe is hardly exciting in a world where you can earn 5% sitting in cash while avoiding the risks that, 1) Xylem mis-executes (like it has in previous M&A) with integrating Evoqua, 2) That the DOJ brings parallel charges against Evoqua similar to (or worse than) what the SEC charged, and 3) Financial restatement risk as suggested by Xylem’s recent disclosure of two sets of financial statements."

""As you have heard us say for a long time, we evaluate the decisions that we make in the business based on the long-term impact to cash flow per share, and AFFO is the best proxy for this." — CEO Jay Brown, July 2017; "We will focus the majority of our value creation discussion on AFFO per share. Certainly, we will be making our capital allocation decisions based on our goal of maximizing long-term AFFO per share." — CEO Jay Brown (CFO at the time), January 2012"

"Your computation of free cash flow differs from the typical calculation, which is cash flows from operating activities as presented in the statement of cash flows under GAAP less capital expenditures by excluding restructuring payments. Please revise the title of this non-GAAP measure so it is not confused with free cash flow as typically calculated. See Question 102.07 of the Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations on Non-GAAP Financial Measures. — SEC Staff"

"Translation (emphasis added): In the framework of short-term obligations - controlled or controlled person, significant influence As of December 31, 2020, the Company reports obligations for the company CPI FIM SA due to unpaid interest on the loan in the amount of 2,146,000. CZK (2019 - CZK 1,890 thousand) and for the company CPI FIM SA due to real cash pooling in CZK and EUR, totaling 17,724 thousand CZK (2019 - by thousand CZK). — Muddy Waters Research"

""Net cash provided by operating activities was $15.7 million this quarter compared to $11 million net cash provided in the prior quarter and net cash provided by operating activities was $11.9 million in the year ago quarter. Increase in cash was mainly a result of improvement in net profit and a decrease in accounts receivable. For the year, we generated $33.4 million of cash from operating activities versus $6 million in 2017." — Q4'2018 Conference Call"

"TASK's financial performance is not as robust as it appears on the surface. The company promotes its 57% top-line growth, 82% and 95% Adjusted EBITDA and Net Income growth, respectively. However, we point out that the COVID-19 adjustments are not industry standard, and should be removed. Furthermore, by adjusting LTM cash flows for one-time equity payments, we find that cash flow growth has lagged headline figures. Free cash flow growth was negative."

"Our strong order backlog provides us with good long-term revenue visibility... We still firmly believe that four times leverage is the most efficient capital structure that we can put together going forward, that provides us with the lowest overall cost of capital, we are very confident about the visibility of the cash flow to service this as well as providing the capital for all the programs that we have — CFO Wirasekara Q1'17 Conf Call (May 2017)"

"The transaction is based on a cash consideration of USD 1.81 billion, which includes a tax benefit with a net present value of USD 200 million. The $200 million tax benefit comes from an election made by the seller as part of the transaction, resulting in amortizable goodwill for tax purposes, allowing us to reduce annually the amount of tax that WSP will have to pay in the future. — CFO Michaud, John Wood E&I Acquisition Call, June 1, 2022"

""The Company reclassified prior year comparative figures in the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows to conform to the current year's presentation. In addition, the Company reclassified certain prior year comparative figures from interest expense to net sales to conform to the current year's presentation. This change in presentation did not have an impact on the Company's financial condition or operating results." — Amcor Note 1"

""[T]he outsiders (who often had complicated balance sheets, active acquisition programs, and high debt levels) believed the key to long-term value creation was to optimize free cash flow, and this emphasis on cash informed all aspects of how they ran their companies – from the way they paid for acquisitions and managed their balance sheets to their accounting policies and compensation systems." — William N. Thorndike, Jr., The Outsiders"

"It is getting worse and worse!!! Everything was fine at the beginning, the rewards were interesting, there were regular quests (and different ones). The articles were a lot cheaper. I went from 300,000 (in-game) cash to 60,000 in a few weeks without changing the way I play. I sent e-mails but nobody wants to tell me why. It is a shame because when I will be out of cash, I will not be able to play anymore. — Mélissa (Google Play Review)"

""Disney has an incredible legacy as one of the leading and most successful consumer entertainment companies in the world... But in recent years, the Company has lost its way resulting in a rapid deterioration in its financial performance from a consistent dividend-paying, high free cash flow generative business into a highly leveraged enterprise with reduced earnings power and weak free cash flow conversion," said Nelson Peltz."

""So I should see in your modeling - we expect to generate FCF of roughly $400M in FY 2018, taking into account incremental capital expenditure up to $100M associated with the multiyear development of our new campuses in Israel. Normalizing for this capital expenditure, we expect FCF of roughly $500M in FY 2018.... This investment, if consummated, will be financed from internal cash resources" — Tamar Rapaport-Dagim, CFO, Amdocs"

""Yes, and Scott, so let's go back to 2015, you saw that we had about a 60% conversion rate of EBITDA to free cash flow* and through what you have seen this year particularly for this quarter we are in line with that performance. So I will say the expectation moving forward around free cash flow generation to EBITDA will we continue to be at that 60% level, I think we will be close." — Jody Tusa (former CFO), Q3'16 Earnings Call"

"We’re a very simple compensation structure: sales gross, margin, cash from operations and EPS [been] like that for years, 25% each. That’s for our annual bonus. By having those four, particularly gross margin, it creates financial literacy within the company. Given all employee bonus[es], and when one component is gross margin, the natural thing to ask is what’s gross margin and how do I get it? — CEO DB Conf June 11, 2019"

"The Company reclassified prior year comparative figures in the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows to conform to the current year's presentation. In addition, the Company reclassified certain prior year comparative figures from interest expense to net sales to conform to the current year's presentation. This change in presentation did not have an impact on the Company's financial condition or operating results."

""So again, I know that some are very anxious that we hold those shares. Others, very anxious that we sell those shares or swap those shares and so forth. We've got a very close handle on that, and it is our objective to be able to monetize those shares this year and. And to bring in another, at least, $1 billion into the company and into the cash flow of the company." — Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President & CEO, May 2018"

""So again, I know that some are very anxious that we hold those shares. Others, very anxious that we sell those shares or swap those shares and so forth. We've got a very close handle on that, and it is our objective to be able to monetize those shares this year and. And to bring in another, at least, $1 billion into the company and into the cash flow of the company." — Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President & CEO, May 2018"

""Net cash provided by financing activities for fiscal 2004 was $8.7 million, compared with $11.4 million for fiscal 2003. The decrease is primarily attributable to a decline in proceeds from common stock issued under stock incentive plans. In addition, the Company had no short-term borrowings at the end of fiscal years 2004 and 2003, other than amounts due GECC which are included in accounts payable." — Linens 2005 10-K"

"So again, I know that some are very anxious that we hold those shares. Others, very anxious that we sell those shares or swap those shares and so forth. We've got a very close handle on that, and it is our objective to be able to monetize those shares this year and. And to bring in another, at least, $1 billion into the company and into the cash flow of the company. — Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President & CEO, May 2018"

"For the past few years our cash flow has enabled us to continue to pursue our growth plans and continue to pay down debt. Our free cash flow is now sufficient to fund both those priorities while enhancing new to shareholders through a quarterly dividend payment. We are able to generate the free cash flow to do all of this because we employ a simple growth oriented business model at Dollarama — June 2011 Conference Call"

""Value-In-Kind (VIK) means the goods and/or value other than the actual form of cash received" — Law Insider. "We have a unique rights strategy, whereby, as I mentioned before, we work with a vast number of sports to collect the underlying data that's required for sportsbooks through contra-relationships or swapping our software with those sportsbooks." — Mark Locke, CEO Genius Sports (M&A Call, October 28th, 2020)."

"After observing problematic restructuring accounting adjustments and financial presentation methods that we believe artificially boost Adjusted EPS and Free Cash Flow (two of the three key components of management Annual Incentive Plan), we observe that Avery Amended and Restated the Annual Incentive Plan on Jan 1, 2020 to greatly expand language around the clawback provision for fraud or intentional misconduct."

"This is simply not true. This cash would only be available to pay principal on debt and pursue further acquisitions in an imaginary world where this cash had not already been spent on severance, restructuring and other exit costs as well as transaction and integration costs, which left them with only $4.3 million of real free cash flow in 2018 – enough to pay down a whopping 0.13% of the principal on GTT’s debt."

"“The bottom line is that there is no compelling valuation opportunity in separating our retail business, and that any potential separation will cause loss of integration synergies, additional cash needed to maintain appropriate balance sheet strength, increase volatility in the remaining business, and, we believe, result in long term value disruption.” — Gary Heminger, Former Chairman & CEO of Marathon Petroleum"

"We can calculate Terminal Value in two ways. First, we can calculate Terminal Value using the Perpetuity Growth Method. This method assumes that the company keeps operating and generates cash flow forever into the future. Second, we can calculate Terminal Value using the Terminal Multiple Method. This method assumes we sell the company to an acquirer at the end of our forecast period. — The Core Technicals Guide"

"“...the strategic infrastructure we have in North Dakota, having control of that adds a lot of value... the Tioga Gas Plant...that’s not something we would be interested in MLPing.” — John Hess, November 2012; “...we need some historical performance there of cash flow, of the EBITDA, from these midstream assets, and as we get that... I expect the timing of the monetization is 2015.” — John Rielly, March 2013"

"“But I think what's also clear, and you'd understand this, we're not spending cash. So, appropriately, they put GAAP revenue, but there's no cash revenue that we're spending over at Ginkgo right now because we have credits that go back from 2018 when they got $40 million worth of equity in Genomatica as part of our Series B and in exchange, they gave us a bunch of R&D credits.” — Senior Genomatica employee"

"If it becomes necessary, we are confident Phillips 66 could follow a similar path by: Making appropriate management changes; Closing the current $2-$3 per barrel refining EBITDA gap between Phillips 66 and Valero; and Generating $15 billion to $20 billion of after-tax cash proceeds from the sale of Phillips 66’s CPChem stake, European convenience stores, and a portion of its non-operated midstream stakes."

"“Mr. Tan has not sold a single share of Qutoutiao during the IPO or after the IPO, and has taken the CEO role to drive the business forward. All the shares owned by Mr. Tan are founder’s shares, and Mr. Tan has not earned any share rewards for his role as the CEO or Chairman of the Company. Mr. Tan has not pledged any of his shares to obtain cash advances either.” — Qutoutiao (quoted by Wolfpack Research)"

""Capital expenditures were $190 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to $169 million in the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in capital expenditures is primarily driven by increased investment to drive growth and improve cost productivity. Free Cash Flow in 2020 is expected to be approximately $350 million, with capital expenditures of approximately $200 million." — Sealed Air"

"The Commission's complaint alleges that from approximately 1999 through 2003, Black, Radler and Hollinger Inc. engaged in a fraudulent and deceptive scheme to divert cash and assets from Hollinger International, Inc., a U. S. public company and a subsidiary of Hollinger, Inc., and concealed their self-dealing from Hollinger International's public shareholders. — SEC Press Release (November 15, 2004)"

"2U was founded in 2008. In over a decade since its founding, there is no evidence it has built a business of any value. Cumulative free cash flow since reporting in 2011 amounts to a loss of $225m. Over the same time periods, insiders have stashed in their piggy banks $148m from stock sales. Who is laughing to the bank? Now ask yourself, does 2U look like a vehicle to enrich insiders or investors?"

"This quarter, our cash conversion cycle increased seasonally to 92 days from 82 days in the prior quarter. Both day sales outstanding due to collections and inventory days increased to position stock for the second quarter offset-- was offset by increasing days payable. Our near-term target is to stay in the range of 85 to 90 days for the cash conversion cycle. — SMCI Conference Call (Q1 2019)"

"[T]he outsiders (who often had complicated balance sheets, active acquisition programs, and high debt levels) believed the key to long-term value creation was to optimize free cash flow, and this emphasis on cash informed all aspects of how they ran their companies – from the way they paid for acquisitions and managed their balance sheets to their accounting policies and compensation systems."

"Investments at August 31, 2018 of $180.3 million include the cash surrender value of insurance policies of $160.2 million, equity method investments of $14.9 million and cost method investments of $5.2 million. ... Cintas reached an agreement to sell a cost method investment to a third party. The anticipated gain on the sale will be recorded upon consummation of the sale. — Cintas SEC filings"