Callouts & quotes from 1,061+ activist slides

"Prior to Starboard's first public letter to the Company on December 21, 2011, AOL's stock price had materially underperformed both the broader equity markets and its Peer Groups over almost any measurement period since its spin-off from Time Warner Inc."

"Marathon today reports lower RINs expense than merchant peers because Speedway reports no RINs revenue. If Speedway were a separate company, it would recognize higher revenue from RINs commensurate with the higher cost of RINs at Marathon’s refineries."

"P&G’s $6bn of COGS reduction target from FY 2011 to 2016 translates into less than 3% annual COGS efficiency. Many CPG peers undertaking productivity initiatives have demonstrated significantly higher annual COGS productivity in the range of 3.5% to 4%"

"We believe Axon should be valued relative to traditional weapons and firearms manufacturers and connected device and location electronics companies, not high growth SaaS peers with bigger TAMs, lower business risks, and proven recurring revenue models."

"“made Sinch the largest independent voice network in the United States. Inteliquent is one of the major backbones of any voice calling provider in the US and is also trusted by the major US mobile operators to power their peer-to-peer calling.” — Sinch"

"It seems to us that if one were to overstate revenue in a global business, one wouldn't want the margins to seem glaringly out of line with peers. Therefore, we would expect that a smart person (or people) would find a way to inflate expenses as well."

"We believe Essential is signaling that it will miss its targets for the first time since 2015, is richly valued with a poor risk / reward, and should trade at a discount – not a premium – to peers given the numerous issues we’ve identified including:"

"We also note that PetIQ is amortizing its “customer relationships” over an egregiously-long twenty-year period. This stands in contrast to peers which amortize acquisition-derived customer relationships over far shorter periods – typically ten years."

"After fully funding all major CapEx projects, pension liabilities and deal fees, Timken’s separated businesses have additional debt capacity of over $1B to reach average peer capital structures, providing an ample liquidity cushion for each business"

"We believe providing a target of at least 40% growth plus profitability for FY2025 would be in-line with peer targets and timelines and should be readily achievable through a reasonable acceleration in revenue growth and meaningful margin expansion."

"Not only has Crown Castle's AFFO per share grown more slowly than that of peers, but its AFFO also includes less of its total capex. In other words, Crown Castle is growing cash flow per share slower than its peers despite spending far more capital"

"“Despite’s Crown’s massive investment in fiber and small cells, which we acknowledge are less attractive relative to towers, we view the company’s underlying domestic macro business as under-appreciated relative to peers.” — JPMorgan, November 2019"

"We find Sunnova reports metrics that are not aligned with those its peers report. Spruce Point has concerns about the quality and relevance of these metrics including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Operating Expenses and Adjusted Operating Cash Flow."

"Manufacturers of clean energy solutions don't necessarily carry higher valuation multiples. Excluding Enphase, which has margins that Generac will likely never achieve, peers are trading around 2.7x and 2.0x 2022E and 2023E sales, respectively."

""I’ve heard it said that there’s a belief that maybe the assets are old and tired. And I don’t buy that argument. Phillips 66 refineries are every bit as good as [those of its peers], Valero and Marathon." — Brian Coffman, Streamline 66 Podcast"

"A November 2022 report by the Markup found that Intuit peers TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and H&R Block used website pixels to collect and send sensitive personal financial information to Meta and Google, which resulted in a Congressional investigation."

"I’ve heard it said that there’s a belief that maybe the assets are old and tired. And I don’t buy that argument. Phillips 66 refineries are every bit as good as [those of its peers], Valero and Marathon. — Brian Coffman, Streamline 66 Podcast"

"Ambry Genetics was acquired at a notable discount relative to other advanced genetic and molecular diagnostic testing companies, despite the entire peer group, including Ambry, showing double-digit sales growth and EBITDA margins above 10%."

"Spruce Point believes that WSP's backlog is one of the least descriptive among its global peers. Furthermore, unlike Canadian counterparts Stantec and AtkinsRealis (SNC-Lavalin), WSP's backlog differs from remaining performance obligation."

"Management compensation is a significant percentage of EBITDA and has been immune to Kratos’ struggles and poor performance. Among small cap aerospace and defense contracting peers, Kratos’ management is excessively paid relative to EBITDA"

"TWC should, on a fully distributed basis, trade at a premium to Comcast (TWC's most comparable peer given its scale and competitive positioning) due primarily to the higher projected revenue and OIBDA growth at TWC over the next few years."

"If Norfolk Southern's claims of having a PSR operating model right now were true, the Company's operating and financial metrics would not materially lag those of CSX and Class I peers (before and after the East Palestine, Ohio disaster)."

"We believe there are numerous reasons why HIMS revenue multiple is likely to contract closer to its e-commerce peer group and see potential for 25% - 40% downside risk, and more if regulators were to take issue with HIMS operating model."

"PBF has 60% capacity coming from disadvantaged markets. This leads to the Company being a high-cost peer with almost no EBITDA during 2024 (mid-cycle approximation). As such, PBF trades at a substantial discount to other public refiners."

"In light of our interview of a former TASK Business Development employee who claimed that TASK's technology offerings were a step behind peers, we find it notable that TASK recently retracted benefit claims related to its core offerings."

"PBF has 60% capacity coming from disadvantaged markets. This leads to the Company being a high-cost peer with almost no EBITDA during 2024 (mid-cycle approximation). As such, PBF trades at a substantial discount to other public refiners."

"As a result of the Company’s subpar performance, Autodesk shareholders have suffered. As shown below, Autodesk’s share price has meaningfully underperformed its peers, the software market, and the broader market over the last five years."

"Limbach's stock-based compensation payments, which are at the high-end when compared to peers, coupled with warrant issuances and a public offering in 2021, have left Limbach's shares outstanding nearly 50% higher than they were in 2019."

"This consistent underperformance is troubling and puzzling, given both the strong performance of Mellanox’s peers and the tailwinds provided by the Company’s favorable exposure to many of the most attractive end markets in the industry."

"We believe the new BDC (ACAP) will have inferior returns relative to peers because it has lower asset yields and a higher cost structure. As a result we believe this investment will continue to trade at a deep discount to its book value"

"As we’ve demonstrated, Amdocs is at best a no-growth company, and at worst declining organically. If it received a multiple in-line with peers to reflect this reality at 1.0x-1.5x its share price would be approximately 21% to 45% lower."

"The field is 'very skeptical and rightfully so'; can't get BLI data through peer view; software bugs; contamination issues; doesn't recommend the tool and not suited for commercial pharma/biotech customers; unusable by most scientists."

"An efficient “low-cost” miner should be among the best in generating operating cash flow from its fleet. Riot screens as the worst among its closest peers while also among the worst when it comes to share dilution though ATM issuance."

"The journal also reports that the major disadvantages of HAMR are "High temperature (700°C–800°C)" and "High energy consumption". IPX recently claimed that the HAMR process is <700°C which is in stark contrast to the peer evaluation."

"PepsiCo should evaluate the potential refranchising of PBNA's operationally intensive bottling network - as its closest peer has and as PepsiCo itself has done in years past - to allow each business to focus on its core competencies."

"O Realty looks priced for perfection. O trades at the highest multiple within their retail triple net lease peers. As highlighted below, when the growth profile of a REIT begins to decline, the AFFO multiple compresses significantly."

"O Realty looks priced for perfection. O trades at the highest multiple within their retail triple net lease peers. As highlighted below, when the growth profile of a REIT begins to decline, the AFFO multiple compresses significantly."

"Disney's supposed "progress" appears elusive - the Company has significantly underperformed its Media Industry (Proxy) Peers since Mr. Iger returned as CEO in late 2022 and since the Company's "transformation" began in February 2023."

"Disney’s supposed “progress” appears elusive – the Company has significantly underperformed its Media Industry (Proxy) Peers since Mr. Iger returned as CEO in late 2022 and since the Company’s “transformation” began in February 2023."

"Sunnova's business model aligns itself closer to specialty finance / leasing peers than solar businesses. Despite its undifferentiated offerings and lagging financial metrics, Sunnova trades at a premium to peers across all metrics."

"Spruce Point believes that Stryker's inability to raise prices to offset inflation speaks volumes about the quality of its business vs. peers. Most are sticking to margin improvements despite inflationary and supply chain headwinds."

"Monster is dependent on keeping the perceived value of its equity high because it is the most aggressive issuer of stock-based compensation at 1.2% of revenue and almost ~$15,000 per employee among selected food and beverage peers."

"Edgewater's stock price has significantly underperformed a peer group comprised of twenty-eight publicly-traded North American-based IT Consulting companies both in terms of total shareholder return and other key operating metrics"

"DND is a high-quality business with competitive products and cash flows of a similar quality to peers. However, it has significantly underperformed its benchmark indices and self-selected peer group over all relevant time horizons"

"After backing out the value of publicly traded MLP interests and the estimated value of other non-refining businesses, Marathon's current trading price implies a significant discount to the trading value of merchant refining peers"

"Dollarama has zero social media presence, unlike all of its peers. Not only is the Company out of touch with customers in an industry which demands a high level of customer engagement, but its brand is becoming demonstrably stale."

"LSPD was the only Company among its close peers talking about "quick" and "rapid" growth starting in April 2020. Other peers gave a more muted perspective, with one saying it really took until late June/July to see an improvement."

"Phillips 66's (NYSE: PSX) conglomerate structure gives investors the worst of both worlds. The business doesn't benefit from refining upside to the same degree as pure-play peer Valero, but still has the same downside volatility."

"The Summary White Paper contemplated a separation of the portfolio as a means to an end to increase the probability that the individual businesses eliminate operational underperformance vs. peers and achieve a multiple re-rating."

"Contrary to Phillips 66's narrative that their business mix affords investors reduced volatility and they have successfully completed their operational turnaround, the Company delivered worse earnings than all of its peer groups."

"Contrary to Phillips 66’s narrative that their business mix affords investors reduced volatility and they have successfully completed their operational turnaround, the Company delivered worse earnings than all of its peer groups."

"Avery's NTM valuation relative to its closest materials and specialty chemical adhesive peers cannot be justified by Avery having higher free cash flow, or faster sales growth potential. It's dividend yield is also below market."

"Based on peer data and an expert interview, we believe that Resideo's average customer life assumption of 12 years in the Snap One transaction to be extremely aggressive and well beyond the 7 – 8 years supported by our analysis."

"We believe that DOX should not trade at a material premium to midcap technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) peers as a result of its opaque and complex structure, below avg growth, accounting and governance concerns."

"Phillips 66's choice of only looking at Lashier's tenure as CEO hides the fact that Lashier's stint as COO led to >50% relative underperformance vs. its refining peers, given poor operations during the "Golden Age" of refining."

"Phillips 66's choice of only looking at Lashier's tenure as CEO hides the fact that Lashier's stint as COO led to >50% relative underperformance vs. its refining peers, given poor operations during the "Golden Age" of refining."

"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."

"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."

"Without a proper focus on Kao’s strongest brands, it is hard to believe that Kao has the same ‘right to win’ in the global marketplace as peers and its poor portfolio management will continue to act as a drag on a turnaround."

"As Phillips 66’s refining EBITDA eroded due to poor operating performance, the refining weight in its synthetic peer group dropped, masking the impact of Phillips’ underperformance against its core peers, Marathon and Valero"