Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"It does take sophisticated assay development also. You have to have that capability in-house. If you don't, you're going to get a lot of false positives and negatives, probably a lot of false negatives because it's very small volumes. You're talking about a cell producing a few molecules, and then you're doing a fluorescent assay at the very tip of the pen where the diffusion goes out into the fairway—a high level of sophistication. — Bristol Meyers Squibb expert #2"

"A good estimate would be 2 out of 10 RFPs that we're involved in on a clinical research organization with large pharma customers; they are involved. What Berkeley Lights is doing is very niche, so you don't see a lot of players coming in wanting to play in that segment, you don't see a lot of webinars about them, you don't see them speak at conferences, you don't really see Berkeley Lights attending those conferences or engaging them at that level. — IQVIA executive"

"Absolutely, it was toxic. Absolutely. It was toxic. I had one individual who worked for me. She had to leave because she had horrible diet problems that developed because of working at Ginkgo. Physically, it was just killing people. It was not because people were working hard—because we all worked hard—it's a mental anguish that was put on people...It was abusive, and part of it was that it was frustrating because this is Jason's first job. — Former Ginkgo executive"

"As we look ahead to 2025, we remain steadfast in executing on our vision. We are a growth company with no shortage of growth opportunities. We will unlock value for new customer use cases, including seafarers, micro-businesses, and high-amount senders, all of whom have distinct needs that we are uniquely positioned to serve. We can serve additional use cases with minimal incremental investment given the strength of our platform. — Remitly CEO, Q4'24 Call (Feb 2025)"

"Mr. Müller sold shares to Matthias Rumpelhardt, business partner of Udo Müller and the former CEO of Ströer. This business was not laid open for years, only when Mr. Rumpelhardt sold the stocks. Ergo the following questions: 1.1 Why did Mr. Rumpelhardt participate in this share transaction? 1.2 Ignoring the legal aspects, why did Mr. Müller not immediately disclose this transaction? 1.3 Do Ströer or management still maintain business relations with Mr. Rumpelhardt?"

"With retail, you can't be half pregnant. You either commit to it or you don't. Firestone has really invested to expand their retail footprint and even the amount of advertising to drive traffic. Goodyear hasn't really committed. — Former VP at Goodyear; These are mostly auto service centers that happen to sell tires. As an industry participant, the stores are doing the brand no favors poor service levels, general appearance. — Former C-Suite Executive at Competitor"

""They do not have the world's greatest reputation...Their origin, and if you're asking my opinion, Fritz Prinz came up with an idea that violated the laws of physics. The original idea behind Quantumscape was published in an ARPA-E funding opportunity. Everyone was like, "What the hell is with the all-electron battery? It doesn't make any sense." It makes no sense. There are a lot of very serious people who I think never got over that." — Solid-state battery expert"

"To build on the foundation of excellence that Tony has laid, we've appointed Thomas Pettit, Xylem's Chief Operations and Supply Chain Officer. Tom joins us next week coming from Generac Power Systems, and he brings 20-plus years of experience leading global supply chains and operations in the industrial and services sectors. We're very pleased to welcome Tom at a time when supply chain and operations continue to be a foundation of competitive advantage. — Xylem CEO"

""I mean, our goal is to establish, Mike, a global leadership position in enterprise AI." — CEO Siebel, Needham Conf, Jan 11, 2022; "So this is a -- clearly, this is a market share game... we want to go out and gobble up as much market share as we possibly can." — CEO Siebel, Annual Virtual Wells Fargo TMT Summit, Dec 2, 2021; "We've established a substantial leadership position in the nascent stage of the enterprise AI market." — CEO Siebel, Q2 2022 Conference Call"

"Our strategy is a transformational change into a midstream logistics company... — Greg Garland, Phillips 66 CEO; I think Midstream will certainly continue to be a growth vehicle for us... I think Refining is a good business. It's just -- long term, I just don't see it growing — Greg Garland, Phillips 66 CEO; Our Midstream organization is moving forward with 2 major growth projects; construction of the Gray Oak Pipeline and expansion of the Sweeny Hub. — Phillips 66"

""But we won't just pay whatever to companies. We're very disciplined. We walk away when the prices are above our ability to deliver value... I think that's why you see the ROIC still consistent year over year over year in spite of the acquisition nature." — CEO Lobo, Q3 2016 Conf Call; "Deals are significantly more expensive. The Stryker name carries a premium to it. I believe we overpay. When I was there I felt like we overpaid for deals." — Former Stryker M&A Pro"

"“One of Nevro’s biggest implanters had about 300 Nevro devices implanted and he didn’t know that they were all failing because the reps were fielding all the patient calls. Patients were told, if you have any problems just call Nevro or call your rep. Don’t call the doctor. He didn’t know until a year or two later that a third of his patients had gotten explanted at other practices. So, a lot of Nevro’s high volume implanters split.” — High volume implanter and KOL"

"“I would say that no real material changes for some time from a competitive landscape point of view... win rates across the set of competitors that we do see have either been stable or improving.” — CFO Dylan Smith, September 2019; “...we have seen really stability across all those different kind of categories of deals in terms of the win rates that we've seen over the last year... those been strong and stable over the last year.” — CFO Dylan Smith, September 2020"

""I will tell you that there is no desire to leave the operating room. You want to be there commercially to ensure utilization..." — Former Procept Manager, Nov 2024. "There's always a rep [in the OR], and the nurses become dependent on them...I think they're crazy..." — Major Hospital Urologist, Nov 2024. "...right now, I would say 90% of all physicians need a representative of the company to be there present for the cases..." — Former Procept Sales Rep, Nov 2024."

"“An item of property, plant and equipment is derecognised on disposal or when no future economic benefits are expected from its use or disposal. The gain or loss arising from the derecognition of an asset is determined as the difference between the net sale proceeds, if any, and the carrying amount of the asset. It is recognised in profit or loss (“Other operating income and expense”) when the asset is derecognised” — Casino's disclosed asset de-recognition policy"

"And then we brought in a very senior executive by the name of Gene Reznik, who was the Chief Strategy Officer at Accenture, here to head up this initiative of coordinating the vertical market partners. So we expect a significant investment here and expect in the coming quarters, there will be additional announcements with these vertical market partners that we think will give us a -- increase our competitive advantage in the market. — CEO Siebel, Q3 2021 Conf Call"

""GE Pension Trust, the company's defined benefit plan continues to set an industry standard, as does Myers, who has emerged as one of America's most influential pension managers" — Institutional Investor (12/03); "General Electric deserves to stand as a model of the defined benefit system. Other corporations, as well as public retirement systems ought to examine it for valuable insight in managing their own defined benefit plans" — Pensions & Investments (1/20/11)"

"I said to another CEO, who I won’t name who had called me and inquired about Nelson, that if I were to form the board today, Nelson would be one of the first directors I’d ask to serve because he is an insightful, communicative, enthusiastic, energetic and available director. — William R. Johnson, Former Chairman and CEO, H. J. Heinz Company, current Director of Emerson Electric Co., United Parcel Service, Inc. and PepsiCo, Inc., and current Trian Advisory Partner"

""GE Pension Trust, the company's defined benefit plan continues to set an industry standard, as does Myers, who has emerged as one of America's most influential pension managers" — Institutional Investor (12/03); "General Electric deserves to stand as a model of the defined benefit system. Other corporations, as well as public retirement systems ought to examine it for valuable insight in managing their own defined benefit plans" — Pensions & Investments (1/20/11)"

""GE Pension Trust, the company's defined benefit plan continues to set an industry standard, as does Myers, who has emerged as one of America's most influential pension managers" — Institutional Investor (12/03); "General Electric deserves to stand as a model of the defined benefit system. Other corporations, as well as public retirement systems ought to examine it for valuable insight in managing their own defined benefit plans" — Pensions & Investments (1/20/11)"

"I said to another CEO, who I won’t name who had called me and inquired about Nelson, that if I were to form the board today, Nelson would be one of the first directors I’d ask to serve because he is an insightful, communicative, enthusiastic, energetic and available director. — William R. Johnson, Former Chairman and CEO, H. J. Heinz Company, current Director of Emerson Electric Co., United Parcel Service, Inc. and PepsiCo, Inc., and current Trian Advisory Partner"

""GE Pension Trust, the company’s defined benefit plan continues to set an industry standard, as does Myers, who has emerged as one of America’s most influential pension managers" — Institutional Investor (12/03); "General Electric deserves to stand as a model of the defined benefit system. Other corporations, as well as public retirement systems ought to examine it for valuable insight in managing their own defined benefit plans" — Pensions & Investments (1/20/11)"

"“...Norfolk Southern's contractors' recommendation to conduct a controlled burn lacked sufficient scientific basis, disregarded available temperature data, and contradicted expert feedback from the shipping firm on site.” — Senator JD Vance. “That's correct.” — Chair Jennifer Homendy. “This town very well may have been poisoned to facilitate the rapid movement of freight, or at the very least it was poisoned for reasons that we can't identify.” — Senator JD Vance."

"“I can confirm that. Uptime for the A150, uptime is an issue. If it was not the only actinic inspection tool in the market, people would definitely go with another supplier. It doesn’t meet what we would normally expect. We typically in the industry for look for inspection equipment to have availability to be used certainly in excess of 80%, and most are over 90% and up. And the A150 didn’t meet the 80% threshold [laughs].” — Longtime executive at Global Foundries"

"Earthworx also connects GFL, Mr. Dovigi and Director Dino Chiesa, to Gordon Churchill of Port Perry. Mr Churchill, in addition to Mr. Villa, were both referenced as directors/owners of Earthworx. Gordon pleaded guilty in June 2007 to charges of production of a controlled substance, unauthorized possession of a firearm and misconduct by peace officer. Gordon’s son Nick Churchill follows Villa’s Campus Auto on Instagram. Nick Churchill was also sentenced to prison."

"Discounted bundling by deep-pocketed medical device companies poses a powerful risk to industry pricing: assuming that its near-term stent retriever market share projections are correct, Medtronic, whose stent retriever has dominant share, is widely regarded as the industry's gold standard, can effectively give away its aspiration catheters for free and still grow profit dollars into FY19, without even assuming any market share gains in the stent retriever space."

"In 2005 Stone received notice that the staff of the SEC (the Staff) was conducting an informal inquiry into the revision of Stone’s proved reserves and the financial statement restatement. The Staff has also informed Stone that it is likely to obtain a formal order of investigation with its inquiry. In addition, Stone has received an inquiry from the Philadelphia Stock Exchange investigating matters including trading prior to Stone’s October 6, 2005 announcement."

"“LightSail Energy Storage and the Failure of the Founder Narrative: A fish rots from the head down.” — Greentech Media. “...Range Fuels has all the plot elements—splashy headlines, subsidies and opportunistic venture capitalists.” — WSJ. “As the years rolled by, Fisker observers became increasingly suspicious that the company didn’t even possess a working car...The delays, the secrecy, and the general sketchiness surrounding the company...” — Scientific American."

""One of the things that's critical for us in the Firth Rixson acquisition is that there is a lot of talent and a lot of technology. And so we wanted to make sure that the really top people in the organization stayed with Alcoa once the deal is done." — Former CFO of Alcoa, November 20, 2014; "At the same time, when it comes to technology, frankly, I mean, as you know, the isothermal forging technology is a challenging one." — Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld, January 11, 2016"

"It’s time to open up the windows at Arconic. When you speak with a shareholder at Arconic they are fed up. When you speak with a former employee of Arconic, they are saddened by the Company’s performance and fearful for their pension. A decade of poor returns and unfulfilled promises has left all stakeholders weary. Let’s welcome accountability at Arconic and take our place as a top performer in an attractive industry. — Patrice E. Merrin, Nominee for New Arconic"

""Affiliated Company" means a company or other entity directly or indirectly controlling the alternative of the Parties herein, or controlled by either Party, or controlled indirectly by either Party; "Control" means above 50% of registered capital of the Affiliated Company or other organizations either Party holds or the authority that the Party has right to appoint General Manager or other principles of the Affiliated Company or organizations. — Contract Excerpt"

"*8 Equinox does have a refund policy. Equinox, however, only refunds 90% of the price of the product which is less than Amway refunded in the case considered by the Ninth Circuit. See Omnitrition, 79 F.3d at 783. Distributors that enter as Managers and purchase $5000 in product are effectively paying $500 for the right to participate in the Equinox opportunity. — FTC v. Equinox International, Corp., No. 990969HBR, 2008 WL 1425373, at * 8 (D. Nev. Sept. 14, 1999)."

"Omnitrition misreads Amway as holding that any “multi level marketing” program employing policies like Amway’s is not a pyramid scheme as a matter of law. That was not the FTC's holding. The FTC held that Amway was not a pyramid scheme as a matter of fact because its policies were enforced and were effective in encouraging retail sales. This ruling does not help Omnitrition at the summary judgment stage. — Webster v. Omnitrition, 79 F.3d 776, 784 (9th Cir. 1999)."

"I can tell you from talking to hundreds of physicians across the United States and internationally, because I did speaking programs internationally, it's about explants. — KOL #3; The device stopped working after three to six months...It went from being great to not working to irritating...The 33% explant rate for Nevro devices [in the NANS paper] is definitely low. It’s significantly higher. Patients hate the Nevro device. That thing is a piece of shit. — KOL #4"

"“very strongly want you to use their procurement service”; that “their new contracts, they are mandating that if you are going to use our product, you have to use our planes and procurement”; that “they’re persistent in pushing” their aircraft and their “price is so egregious that a lot of programs, including ours can’t or won’t do it” – “the additional cost is an annoyance when it’s unnecessary to be spent.” — Cardiac transplant surgeon at a major Midwest center"

"I think that's a valid critique. I think although there's no data to indicate that this treatment modality could spread or lead to cancer going outside of the prostate, I think it's a valid critique because essentially you are releasing cancer cells into the urinary tract and potentially into the venous tract. So, I think in theory it makes a lot of sense. There's no data to kind of back this up, but it is a valid, I think, critique. — Private Practice Urologist"

""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"

"I think Meetrics was a crap company to acquire. Sorry to be blunt. When you're verification with little competition in Europe and small, after a decade of presence, especially in Germany. Its closed off and they like to buy local. The fact they weren't as stronger established is problematic. I didn't see any advantage to their technology. It didn't give DV any edge. It was a market share acquisition. Some of the clients already went to IAS. — Former DV Executive"

"“were not replicated in our lab (with 30, 5, and 2% bioavailability in mice, rat, and dog).” — Abbott Researchers; “this limited oral bioavailability questions the data related to the ability of BF2.639 to increased [sic] histamine brain levels after oral administration” — Abbott Researchers; “our laboratory findings suggest that CYP2D6 inhibition, potent hERG binding and the potential for phospholipidosis would likely be important hurdles.” — Abbott Researchers"

"“Shortly following my appointment to the board of Tessera in September 2013, Starboard served notice to Tessera desiring to replace a majority of the Board... Starboard has proven to be highly ethical and constructive in their approach to board oversight and governance and, without exception, has done whatever is best for the long-term interests of the company and its shareholders.” — Rick Hill, Chairman of Tessera Technologies and former CEO of Novellus Systems"

"“Shortly following my appointment to the board of Tessera in September 2013, Starboard served notice to Tessera desiring to replace a majority of the Board... Starboard has proven to be highly ethical and constructive in their approach to board oversight and governance and, without exception, has done whatever is best for the long-term interests of the company and its shareholders.” — Rick Hill, Chairman of Tessera Technologies and former CEO of Novellus Systems"

"…with Marcato establishing a 6% position in the stock, we think it is likely that 1) management will be under pressure to realize a more meaningful portion of the cost savings to EPS versus potential reinvestment 2) initiates a dialogue around the strategic value of DECK's non-core brands in its portfolio including potential alternatives 3) creates a greater sense of urgency around shareholder value enhancing initiatives including accelerated share repurchases."

"Investigator #6, for example, stated extreme concern about cardiac events, based on extensive experience using diazoxide for hyperinsulinism – “in the other condition we use diazoxide for, pulmonary edema is a massive concern of ours...the main adverse event that I would be worried about with this drug and the potential for that...difficult to predict who will develop that...personally, I would always be ordering echos on any child before and during treatment.”"

"“We are highly regulated, as we should be. I think that is part of what it means to build and maintain trust with customers, which ultimately is what this business I’ve learned is about.” — Matt Oppenheimer, CEO, Remitly. “We added a value called ‘Lead Authentically.’ I think that’s a key part of my leadership style. And we actually removed a value that was ‘Be Transparent.’ I think authenticity and transparency are different.” — Matt Oppenheimer, CEO, Remitly."

""Some of our biggest differentiators include the fact that over 90% of our products is made from the same fabrication and more than 50% of our revenue is generated by our core styles in core colors." — Spear on Q3 2021 Earnings Call; "It's a pretty simple business...[they] have one distribution center in the US that serves the entire US market and Canada...they're stuck for better or worse with that core customer." — Former Executive Interviewed by Spruce Point"

""The revised outlooks to negative from stable reflect the group's declining balance sheet strength metrics driven by substantial surplus losses in recent years. Erie's operating results have been impacted over the recent five-year period by increased weather-related activity. More recently, inflation-driven severity increases and higher claim frequency in the auto and homeowners segments have contributed to the significant underwriting losses in 2023" — AM Best"

"“And if you do come in below that target or budget, I mean do you think – would we expect to see you drill incremental wells for the same CapEx over the year, or just come out with a lower CapEx budget?” ... “our goal is to accelerate value. We have a deep multi-decade inventory and we want to bring as much of that value forward. So, our plan would be to leverage those efficiencies and be able to drill additional wells…” — Rick Bott, Continental President & COO"

""We significantly expanded this partner ecosystem in Q1, entering an important highly strategic alliance with Google Cloud to allow the entire Google Cloud global sales and service organization to co-sell and service the entire family of C3 AI applications globally. The 2 companies will tightly integrate C3 AI and Google Cloud technologies and go-to-market initiatives with the effect of accelerating enterprise AI adoption." — CEO Siebel, Q1 2022 Conference Call"

"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"

"No. We should look at the assumptions that go into the DCF valuation on an objective basis. If the assumptions are valid and the DCF indicates that the bulk of the value is coming from Terminal Value, that's just the result of an objective analysis. We shouldn't alter an otherwise objective analysis to satisfy a preconceived notion that Terminal Value should or shouldn't make up more than a certain percentage of the value. — Financial Modeling Course References"

"“I’m talking about customers coming to KLA... saying, guys, we need you to develop this tool...P2 can only be done by a clean tool...they were really begging us to expedite.” — Former KLA executive in a leadership role in their EUV mask inspection group. “I think there are a lot of issues with the Lasertec tool. It's not reliable enough, and yes, I do think customers would really like KLA on this” — Ex-KLA director of engineering focused on EUV mask inspection."

"We have thus far established that (1) the Libre 2 will be nearly technologically equivalent to the G6, (2) Abbott has the financial capacity to drive CGM pricing to unsustainable levels for Dexcom with only limited consequences for its own profitability, and (3) even Dexcom’s most technology-dependent Type 1 diabetes customers could switch to the Libre 2 given its new technological capabilities and the potential degree of cost savings to be had from switching."

"This begs three questions: 1) What is the value proposition of the Taexx system if homeowners don't even realize they have the system installed as a home buying benefit, 2) If conventional pest control sales were 90% of the business, and HomeTeam D2D marketers were successful, why does Rollins need Fox's marketers to push the use of Taexx, and 3) If HomeTeam's margins are well below corporate average, why is Rollins pushing investment in lower margin business?"

"Spruce Point Question: "Would you be concerned if WTRG is falling behind its rate base growth projections? Do you agree that if WTRG starts missing its expectations in rate base growth that it would be a major cause of concern for investors?" Answer: "Yes, I would. And that's because utility companies are so hyper-focused on rate base growth. To achieve their earnings growth, they have to get into service the capital they're spending." — Spruce Point interview"

"Spruce Point Question: "Would you be concerned if WTRG is falling behind its rate base growth projections? Do you agree that if WTRG starts missing its expectations in rate base growth that it would be a major cause of concern for investors?" Answer: "Yes, I would. And that's because utility companies are so hyper-focused on rate base growth. To achieve their earnings growth, they have to get into service the capital they're spending." — Spruce Point interview"

"Maxar’s 2017 Annual Report: “Consolidated revenues were $1,631.2 million in 2017 compared to $1,557.5 million in 2016. Revenues increased due to the inclusion of DigitalGlobe revenues of $221.6 million for the period October 5, 2017 to December 31, 2017 and from higher revenues from contracts with the U.S. government and other customers to supply spacecraft and perform design studies for scientific research and development missions.” — Maxar 2017 Annual Report"

""The makings of today's Arconic began when Klaus Kleinfeld was appointed CEO of Alcoa Inc... [the management team's] actions saved the company and set the stage for the successful execution of a multi-year transformation." — Board Letter to Shareholders, February 6, 2017; "We've created Arconic, we've created Alcoa Corporation. In the crisis in 2009 the company had an almost near-death experience. We saved it from this." — Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld, February 1, 2017"

"Let's now review our recent acquisitions. First off, let me say that I'm particularly pleased with the progress we have made in 2022 in becoming the undisputed leader of our industry. We have continued to be active and disciplined on the acquisition front and completed 6 transactions, adding key expertise in high growth sectors such as environment and water, while expanding our offering to clients in the government space amongst others — CEO Year End 2022 Call"

"actinic is not going to be sufficient for mask inspection because sub-resolution assist features will become necessary...those features you cannot detect with actinic light...ultimately an electron beam solution is required...they need features on a mask that are smaller than 13.5nm...higher resolution than EUV is required...and people are working on an electron beam solution...KLA is one of them. — Japanese semiconductor executive friendly with Lasertec's CEO"

""Yes, yes, yes - some of the growth is that patients are getting one stimulator and then another as the new ones come out... I'll be conservative and say 25% of the market is repeat business and the more aggressive number is 50%." — Former Nevro territory manager; "We were pushing replacements of old devices... There was a push to sell upgrades when I was there. I didn't like the ethics. There's infection risk when you do the surgery." — Former Nevro sales rep"