Callouts & quotes from 306+ activist slides

"So we believe, based on some experience on conversions or migrations that we've already done, that there is a lot of potential operating leverage, not necessarily in the R&D side, but more on the operating costs side."

"We estimate that, assuming management has tolerance for conservative leverage, Amdocs has sufficient debt capacity to grow sales by 2.9% annually over three years via acquisitions even if it records 0% organic growth."

"Management has stated its investment grade rating is a top priority and above capital return. Yet, CTC has continued to buyback shares while its leverage remains above the level required to prevent a credit downgrade"

"Xerox should leverage its position of power – being a critical revenue stream for Fuji Xerox and Fuji Xerox being a large part of Fuji – to renegotiate or eliminate the one-sided Fuji Xerox joint venture agreements"

"After a reckless and failed acquisition spree from 2008-2012, Kratos teetered on credit default before divesting a key division to deleverage, and pivoting focus to hype its unmanned systems (aka drones) business."

"Assuming Valeant de-levers and maintains 3.5 turns of leverage, allocates free cash flow to acquisitions, and grows at a rate reflective of the strength of its franchises, the stock is tremendously undervalued"

"Assuming Valeant de-levers and maintains 3.5 turns of leverage, allocates free cash flow to acquisitions, and grows at a rate reflective of the strength of its franchises, the stock is tremendously undervalued"

"MSCI's SEC Form ADV 2A references that it has just 84 employees but through its foreign affiliates “leveraged” 600 ESG employees including ~250 analysts and researchers. How are these costs allocated to ESG?"

"We believe PGNY needs the clinics more than they need PGNY and that short, 1-year clinic contracts only increase clinic network negotiating leverage, which we believe may pressure PGNY margins going forward."

"It is prudent for CTC to reduce its leverage to maintain its current rating. A downgrade would result in a rating on the cusp of non-investment grade (junk) status and potentially higher cost of capital."

"HLF took on substantial leverage in 2014 to fuel an aggressive buyback program and bolster a falling share price. With an $1B credit facility maturing in March 2016, Herbalife is running out of options"

"HLF took on substantial leverage in 2014 to fuel an aggressive buyback program and bolster a falling share price. With an $1B credit facility maturing in March 2016, Herbalife is running out of options"

"HLF took on substantial leverage in 2014 to fuel an aggressive buyback program and bolster a falling share price. With an $1B credit facility maturing in March 2016, Herbalife is running out of options"

"Appointing Mr. Orr as COO and purportedly planning to leverage his knowledge of PSR does not change the fact that Norfolk Southern’s results show that “resilience railroading” and PSR are incompatible."

"HLF took on substantial leverage in 2014 to fuel an aggressive buyback program and bolster its falling share price. With a $1B credit facility maturing in March 2016, Herbalife has fewer options today"

"According to JP Morgan's analysis, Hess International Co's leverage would fall within the range of Hess's applicable proxy peers and would receive an investment grade rating from the rating's agencies"

"We are alarmed that the rate of increase in cloud storage costs is in decline. We find no indications that Tempus expected to be able to leverage cloud costs at scale, so why are costs not keeping up?"

"Stable growth combined with an appropriate capital structure, ongoing share repurchases, and clear investor communication of leverage target and buyback strategy has led to significant outperformance."

"AtriCure has been unable to demonstrate any operating leverage, let alone a trivial accounting profit, even as its core products have saturated their addressable market with little direct competition."

"HLF took on substantial leverage in 2014 to fuel an aggressive buyback program and bolster its falling share price. With a $1B credit facility maturing in March 2016, Herbalife has fewer options today"

"Content could maintain an investment grade profile with initial leverage of 3.75x total debt/OIBDA (adjusted leverage of 4.1x) and a target leverage ratio of approximately 3.25x - 3.50x 2005PF OIBDA."

"BR paid €2.14 (~$2.58 billion) for Itiviti, placing a 10x multiple on its €210 million of sales and increasing debt by $2.1 billion while pushing its leverage ratio from approximately 1.5x to 3.6x."

"FND may potentially be making liberal interpretation of lease commencement dates. The practical implication is that it could delay recognition of the leases and understate FND's true leverage."

"In August 2024, the Board approved two acquisitions for a total consideration of $69 million, taking net leverage to where it was prior to the dilutive equity offering from earlier this year"

"The Company has significantly less financial leverage than its peers allowing it to acquire smaller building products companies that are currently operating at trough levels of profitability"

"We believe this poorly designed compensation package encourages the CEO to take excessive risks such as making acquisitions using significant leverage in the hope of reaching these targets."

"AOL should maintain an investment grade rating with leverage of $4.8 billion, representing 2.5x 2005E OIBDA and 2.8x 2005E OIBDAR, based on both its expected cash flows and perceived risks."

"Verint’s balance sheet, meanwhile – saddled by $650M of net debt at 3x leverage, by our estimates – will likely restrict it from making similarly-sizable investments in cloud capabilities."

"Based on accepted analytical credit adjustments made by Maxar's rating agency Moody's and reasonable year end projections, Maxar will effectively exceed its leverage covenant by year end."

"Coal stocks look cheap, but there’s a reason: the industry is notoriously cyclical with high operating leverage, and not a long-term climate or environmentally friendly source of energy."

"New Prison Realty did not fail because it was a REIT, it failed because: It had too much leverage; It had an overly aggressive development plan; Its tenant, OpCo, was also over-leveraged"

"“They [Burford] gambled on an ability to leverage a buyout from Perry Ellis at a price above the merger consideration... They lost that gamble.” — Judge Michael Hanzman, February 3, 2020"

"Leverage partner network (without the SG&A expense) to target SMB's that want a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for setting up their office environment and PC companies looking to bundle"

"Spruce Point believes FND’s actual debt obligations are $618 million more than is being calculated by analysts and market data providers and its leverage is closer 3.1x and not 2.2x."

"Spruce Point believes FND's actual debt obligations are $618 million more than is being calculated by analysts and market data providers and its leverage is closer 3.1x and not 2.2x."

"All the BPOs servicing Facebook, and I'm not sure but probably at least a dozen, are doing low margins just to have the name, to learn, and leverage that name in their sales efforts."

"Riot's business model is dysfunctional, characterized by seemingly endless capital spending, lack of operating leverage, unpredictable revenue, poor returns, and negative cash flow."

"Improvements to Six Flags parks should be clearly visible next year as capex is spent on high ROI projects and new technology is leveraged to directly enhance the guest experience"

"Recent favorable market trends (ACA) and corporate events (Dealer Services spinoff plus leverage) have driven satisfactory overall results for ADP, but these tailwinds are fading"

"Adjusting for the very real impacts of the capitalized software costs and the TRA liability, PowerSchool’s adjusted Net Leverage Ratio increases from 3.2x to an astonishing 5.8x."

"PSH’s long-term debt management strategy is focused on managing leverage over time by increasing NAV through strong performance and laddering its maturities through new issuances"

"Our view is clear: Stryker does not appear committed to advancing its technology infrastructure to deliver the organizational efficiencies and earnings leverage for investors."

"After adjusting Olam's EBITDA to remove non-cash accounting gains, it is showing that Olam is currently leveraged at 9.3x gross debt to LTM EBITDA, and 1.6x interest coverage."

"MGPI's valuation is rich and its financial condition is fragile with no cash and significant leverage on earnings and EBITDA expectations that are likely to sorely disappoint"

"TWC could potentially maintain its investment grade rating with a target leverage ratio of up to 4.75x debt/OIBDA; at 4.75x - 6.0x TWC would be likely rated Ba1/BB+ or lower"

"TSMC will keep a minimal share for Lasertec...we believe [Intel] purchased Lasertec because they want to have some leverage power with KLA because KLA’s price is even higher"

"At a $36 price, Borders would trade at 7.5x '08E EBITDAR, only a slight premium to 6.8x, the average of total leverage levels used in several recent retail LBO transactions"

"We believe CTC will be unable to maintain its current level of capital return given its current leverage and need to delever in order to maintain its current credit rating"

"TWX appears to have a more conservative financial policy and leverage targets than many of its competitors in the media sector (both diversified media and cable credits)."

"We estimate that this defection and competition will decrease 2022E revenue by 35% and levered free cash flow by 80%, while net leverage should balloon to more than 8.0x."

"The Company's entire new plan – pausing M&A, focusing on organic growth opportunities and using cash flows to reduce leverage – is essentially ripped from Engine's plan."

"PSH’s long-term debt management strategy is to manage leverage over time by increasing NAV through strong performance and laddering its maturities through new issuances"

"PSH's long-term debt management strategy is to manage leverage over time by increasing NAV through strong performance and laddering its maturities through new issuances"

"The net effect of these two impacts brings PowerSchool's adjusted leverage to 5.8x – a standout in the ed-tech industry where many companies have a net cash position."

"TIP REIT is better able to access capital for future land acquisitions than Target today, given TIP REIT's immense security, stability, and unleveraged balance sheet"

"Management says that EPS can increase margins by 400 bps in 3-to-5 years. Given the volume leverage in this business, this is an extraordinarily undemanding target"

"While Ferguson has expanded EBITDA margins over the last 5 years, Trian believes there is an opportunity to better leverage growth and improve margin flow through"

""We hope to leverage our industrial resources and work with China's top teams to change the current situation of foreign AI chip makers' monopolization." — Source"

"Zebra's leverage is rising as it has made expensive bets on acquisitions which we will demonstrate are of low quality and are failing to meet lofty expectations."

"Less than 2 weeks apart, Management showed two different methodologies to showcase the best version of "operating leverage" and "margin improvement" to investors"