Callouts & quotes from 1,061+ activist slides

"By adjusting CLEAR's gross margins for labor and transaction fees, we see that its gross margin is 2,430 basis points lower than the promoted margin and 800 basis points lower than the peer group average."

"At a minimum, industry leading FMCG companies should achieve normalized gross margins of over 45%. Currently, we estimate Consumer Products Gross Margins remain below pre-Covid levels and far below peers."

"If volume growth accelerates to UNP's potential, we believe investors will reward this higher growth with a valuation more in line with UNP's Canadian peers and other high-quality US industrial companies"

"Investors should be alarmed that unlike most of its peers, Samsara does not provide the most basic level of transparency on key performance indicators such as net subscriber additions and customer churn."

"We believe Intuit will see a material multiple de-rating over time, and thus we expect the shares to underperform those of its software peers, the technology sector, as well as the broader equity market."

"It is therefore not surprising that Nevro and its peers appear downright paranoid about doing any long term studies, preferring to cease evaluation at the 3-12 month mark lest they blow up reimbursement."

"We believe Mr. Stengel has ignored concerns about AOL's Peer Group expressed by Glass Lewis and has continued to oversee the construction of a peer group that violates ISS and Glass Lewis best practices."

"Spruce Point believes that ROAD's disclosures of its aggregate reserves are inadequate to fully access the risks of owning its shares or its valuation relative to peers that do disclose such information."

"Carvana generates only about half the industry average sales per employee, yet its aggregate compensation expense as a percentage of sales is over 33% higher than peers, and almost twice that of CarMax."

"Our review of peer company gross margin expansion during their approximate growth from $200 to $400 million of revenue showed that none achieved such expansion, and the median was a gain of just 85 bps."

"Since Shareholder Nominee involvement announced on January 28th: Hess has outperformed Proxy Peers by 23%; Hess has outperformed Revised Proxy Peers by 22%; Hess has outperformed Bakken Operators by 26%"

"Analysts and investors currently believe that Hill-Rom shares trade at a 35-40% discount to other med-tech stocks, justified by the Company's relatively slow growth rate versus more tech-oriented peers."

"Phillips 66 stock has underperformed during both refining upcycles and downcycles relative to pure-play refining peers like Valero Energy. In other words: all the downside, with much less of the upside."

"CTO is Obscuring the Fact that Their Core Cash Flows from Operations Have Never Been Enough to Cover Their Dividend and Pay for Recurring Capex with an AFFO Metric That Is an Aberration from Their Peers"

"On an EV per user basis, Peloton is 2,286% more expensive than the average of this peer group. If Peloton had the same value per user as the average of this peer group, the stock would be valued at $5."

"Juniper's LTM R&D as a % of revenue is 9+ points higher than the peer average. The recommended target of $200M of opex savings is conservative relative to total potential savings of ~$420M in R&D alone"

"Dollarama consistently produces operating margins materially higher than industry peers, and higher than historical industry norms. This gap has only grown more substantial through the last five years."

"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"

"Applying a peer-average PNAV multiple – a conservative approach given Sumitomo Realty’s superior asset quality – would imply a share price of just under ¥8,000, over 40% higher than the current level."

"Since the appointment of Mr Looney as CEO (as a proxy for the current strategy) BP's TSR of 34% lags all of its peers (69% for Shell, 87% for Chevron, 101% for Total Energies and 143% for ExxonMobil)."

"Although prior to 1997, BEA performed well compared to its listed peers and the Hong Kong retail banking sector, in recent years it has underperformed significantly in terms of both ROE and BPS growth"

"Result is Hess is penalized twice: Penalty #1: Multiple-based valuation undervalues Bakken; Penalty #2: Hess given lower multiple than peers due in part to higher capital intensity and cash flow gap."

"We question why the street is valuing O Realty at the highest amongst its peers when its occupancy, lease duration and near term lease renewals all reflect a status at the bottom of their peer group."

"We question why the street is valuing O Realty at the highest amongst its peers when its occupancy, lease duration and near term lease renewals all reflect a status at the bottom of their peer group."

"AOL's EBITDA growth ranked lowest among its peers and free cash flow growth was near the lowest quartile, while its CEO and CFO bonus payouts ranked in the 83rd and 96th percentile compared to peers."

"Within Keisei’s peer group, “Adjusted PBR” has been recognised as an appropriate metric for capital efficiency, with Seibu Holdings MTP transparency having been endorsed by the TSE — Palliser Capital"

"The survey found that investors rank Phillips 66 last among its peers on operational execution, CEO effectiveness, capital-allocation strategy and overall delivery against its value-creation agenda."

"The survey found that investors rank Phillips 66 last among its peers on operational execution, CEO effectiveness, capital-allocation strategy and overall delivery against its value-creation agenda."

"Consider that over the past decade, Phillips 66 shares have managed to underperform Valero Energy ("Valero") and Marathon Petroleum ("Marathon"), its closest peers, by -138% and -188%, respectively."

"We find that its prices are on average 15%-20% higher. Weis' prices decreased 8% relative to peers between mid-year 2017 and 2018. As a result, we expect Weis' gross margins to be pressured in 2018."

"In a new survey of institutional investors, Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) ranked last among its peers in operational execution, capital-allocation strategy and delivery against its value-creation agenda."

"To illustrate the potential for cost improvement at GRP, based on a bottoms-up analysis, we analyzed GRP's 2015 mix and cost position relative to peers. The opportunity for improvement was enormous"

"By evaluating median compensation data provided in proxy statements of Zebra's peers, we find that, not only does it have the lowest compensation, but also compensation has not grown in four years."

"Shares have underperformed peers for more than a decade. Despite this clear market signal, Phillips has ignored the need for change and continually praises the benefits of its diversified portfolio"

"The Board and Mr. Shaw rushed into a bad deal that gets Norfolk Southern a short-term PR win while CPKC and CSX, the Company's closest peers, strengthen their partnership and competitive offerings."

"Despite its high growth potential and IRRs in these two plays, and its cash generating core MS Lime position, SandRidge trades at a deep discount to its Peers and its own PV-10 proved reserve base."

"And CONSOL can afford to be patient. The company owns much of this land outright, so unlike many of its peers it doesn’t pay royalties and it doesn’t need to drill in order to maintain its rights."

"Sony's IP&S division has kept pace with top peer growth rates by maintaining #1 position in mirrorless cameras while being the only company in Japan to see margin expansion in its imaging business"

"Despite the reset and significant brand investment, 2013 EPS is forecast to grow only 7%, below the peer average and at the low-end of PepsiCo's long-term guidance ("high single digit EPS growth")"

"It is misleading to combine M&S with refining results when convenient to show higher EBITDA/bbl, but then exclude M&S when including it would show that opex/bbl is significantly higher than peers"

"We believe that the disconnect between management’s messaging and observable market trends has eroded investor trust and further contributed to the Company’s valuation discount relative to peers."

"Read the fine print! No where does it say that Oatly's Gross Profit may not be directly comparable to industry peers as a result of a financial decision it has made related to distribution costs."

"It is misleading to combine M&S with refining results when convenient to show higher EBITDA/bbl, but then exclude M&S when including it would show that opex/bbl is significantly higher than peers"

"Darden's stock price has materially underperformed both the broader equity markets, its Proxy Peer Group and its closest direct competitors over the last 1-, 3-, and 5-year measurement periods."

"However, this claim of a scientific breakthrough is Ambry's own characterization, based on their internal data and not an independent, peer-reviewed publication at the time of the announcement."

"Darden's stock price has materially underperformed both the broader equity markets, its Proxy Peer Group and its closest direct competitors over the last 1-, 3-, and 5-year measurement periods."

"We think Core is likely to miss. With its dependence on offshore and international capex, Core should underperform some of the same North American oriented peers that it outperformed last time."

"Notwithstanding the strategic benefit of an extensive branch network across Hong Kong and China, BEA HK’s fee income business falls below its peer group average, on both a gross and a net basis"

"Crown Castle’s tower business has been an “enabler” for excessive fiber capex. Peers chose to exercise much greater prudence in allocating capital and ensure that fiber projects earned returns"

"While the Company acknowledges it must focus on gaining younger customers, we believe CTC is lagging its peers at attracting millennials. Overpaying for acquisitions will not solve the problem"

"Hess's cumulative CEO compensation over the past 5 years ranks in the 73rd percentile relative to peers, while total shareholder returns over the same 5 year period rank in the 20th percentile"

"Avery is expensive relative to its specialty chemical and materials peers, even before our adjustments to its enterprise value for added debts, and normalization of EBITDA and Free Cash Flow."

"Keisei executives have the highest fixed pay in the peer group. Fixed pay rose by 10.9% from FY23 to FY24. Keisei have not introduced variable compensation since they began reporting in 2019."

"AMR’s portrayal of its “Non-GAAP Cost of Coal Sales” is highly liberal when compared with peers. We see observe it is making five beneficial adjustments, whereas most peers make two or three."

"Applying peer target compensation levels of 55% in advisory(1) and more than the peer average of 40% in asset management, we believe Lazard has the potential to achieve +30% margins over time"

"Keisei's target for a minimum payout ratio of 10% is substantially below disclosed expectations from Japanese and non-Japanese investors, combined with no buyback programme unlike most peers"

"Using price-to-book value, a metric traditionally used for specialty finance companies, and value per customer in line with peers, we believe there is significant downside to Sunnova shares."

"FND's legally executed lease commitments relative to total minimum lease payment obligations is not only growing, but also astronomically dwarfs home improvement peers Home Depot and Lowe's."

"Spruce Point does not believe that MSCI's 20-year customer life assumption for Real Capital Analytics customers is credible or supported by recent client losses or industry peer assumptions."

"Based on peers, we conclude that there are potentially material opportunities to improve ADT's cost structure as a standalone public company, enhancing both EBITDA margins and free cash flow"