Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"When we try to apply via phone on the mobile website, we got to the page below where we were asked to fill in a cell phone number to receive a verification code. However, after we filled in the cell phone number and clicked “retrieve the verification code” button, nothing happened, meaning we did not receive the verification code no matter what we tried. Multiple attempts failed."

""In 1994, season passes to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey averaged $75... Fast forward 25 years to 2019, and we were still charging an average of only $75 for our season pass. Despite the fact that we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our parks..." — Selim Bassoul, CEO, Six Flags (NYSE: SIX), Q2 2022 SIX Earnings Conference Call, August 11th, 2022"

"“This is lithium/lithium. It’s not a battery. You just have a thick lithium foil on both sides, and you’ve got your fancy solid-state separator between the two pieces of lithium foil, probably just some pressure on it, and you’ve warmed it up to 45°C and then you’re driving a small amount of current.” — Solid state battery expert, with extensive experience with ceramic separators"

""The average Joes and below - 70 / 30 is what they expect." — Former Senior Employee, Premier and Vizient; "GPOs are using rebates as the fulcrum to win new business. It will be higher than 65% once [Premier renewals] come up." — Former Senior Employee, Premier; "We need to keep Premier honest. I wouldn't be surprised if we got closer to 80%...." — Former Senior Employee, Premier"

""This deal makes sense from a strategic standpoint for two reasons: 1) HelloSign seems like a positive complementary business product to sell; and, 2) The acquisition provides a potential opportunity to further expand enterprise sales and win more share of the customer wallet," Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note to investors on Monday. — Mark Mahaney"

""CGI's corporate performance - and stock price - warrant scrutiny. Among them are decreasing cash flow - a key metric of financial health - and falling bookings of new business, as well as various "accounting conventions" that have improved CGI's earnings, in part through recognizing revenue already counted by Logica plc, a big technology company CGI bought last year." — Newsweek"

"“On the Fetch business, I think we have the big milestone..... And we've had an outstanding win here with one of the big e-commerce players here in the fourth quarter already which, of course, is going to be a very important reference for us. So we're very pleased with the progress in both machine vision and the autonomous mobile robots.” — CRO Heel, Q4'21 Conf Call, Feb 10, 2022"

"“When you see marketing material, especially for a highly technical audience that doesn't have things like legends or scales, you might get a little bit skeptical... Any scientist is going to be like, if you were a graduate student and you presented that to your research professor, they'd be like, you're an idiot. Why are you here? You don't that.” — IDT ex-regional sales manager"

"Capitalize on Corporate Infrastructure Investments. In recent periods, we have made significant investments in our senior management and corporate infrastructure in anticipation of future revenue growth... We therefore anticipate that, to the extent our revenue grows, we will be able to leverage this infrastructure base and increase our operating margins. — Kratos 2013 10-K, p. 9"

"“Well ya know, in some countries they use home-made lubricants or cheaper solutions.” — Former WD-40 Employee. “We had -- we suffered from the Argentinian economic situation. We had some phasing issues in Mexico with orders... It's the first time we've seen Latin America fail to grow since 2012 and we certainly expect normal service to be resumed in 2020.” — WD-40 COO Steve Brass"

""Success and succession are fundamentally different objectives for CEOs. Someone in Mr. Iger's seat has too many competing interests and conflicting incentives to handle both... the guy who gets you lost in the woods isn't the right guy to find your way out." — Charles Elson, Founding Director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, December 2022"

"For this year 2023, Burgiss is projecting slightly above $90 million of forecasted revenue with a mid-teens standalone EBITDA margin. Together with the benefits we bring to the business, we're projecting 20% top-line growth in the near term and gradually expanding margins. I would point out that we do expect this to be dilutive for the next 12 months. — Burgiss Deal Call Aug 2023"

""Although the Company experienced retail inflation and deflation in various commodities for the years presented, management cannot accurately measure the full impact of inflation or deflation on retail pricing due to changes in the types of merchandise sold between periods, shifts in customer buying patterns and the fluctuation of competitive factors." — 10-Q, p. 12, May 10, 2018"

""The legacy biz is either slowing or in decline, so you need to offset that with different things." — Former Verint Employee; "One topic to be concerned of would be if you continue to see small acquisitions [by Verint].... That would indicate that [those acquisitions] are used to cover up gaps in growth as opposed to a [well thought-out] growth strategy." — Former Verint Employee"

"Evaluated were four in-clinic antigen test kits: VetScan® Canine Giardia Rapid Test (Abaxis), Anigen® Rapid CPV-CCV-Giardia Antigen Test (BioNote), SNAP® Giardia Test (IDEXX) and Witness® Giardia Test (Zoetis). In the comparison of the in-clinic tests to the DFA standard test sensitivity ranged between 70.0-87.1%, and specificity ranged between 71.1-93.4%. — Parasit Vectors, 2018"

"Research and Development. As a company specializing in sales and marketing, scil does not conduct its own research or development. — scil animal care German Entity's 2019 Financial Report. Yes. So they do have good products. They also have a great internal R&D team. Their technical team is extraordinary. And they have some very nice projects in progress. — Kevin Wilson, Heska CEO"

"“We’ve always looked at our MLPs as a financing vehicle, and we use them when there’s a better cost of capital” — Historic Comments from SE CEO Greg Ebel. “Our MLP drop-down strategy is already yielding positive results for investors.... total market capitalization of Spectra Energy and Spectra Energy Partners has increased by $6 billion” — Current Comments from SE CEO Greg Ebel."

"The first $500 million of synergies is expected to create a company with EBITDA margins of over 20% and annual EBITDA of over $3 billion, giving us the firepower to reduce the leverage ratio to 3 times to 3.5 times within two years to three years and then, subsequently, to deploy capital to create further value beyond our organic agenda. — CEO Michael Polk – Q4 2015 Earnings Call"

"“there are far better H3 antagonists out there if this works. So, if an H3 antagonist works with Prader-Willi, then there are better compounds out there that are probably safer. I got the impression, too, a lot of pharmaceutical companies thought H3 was a target in search of a disease.” — Longtime senior scientist at Johnson & Johnson, with global leadership roles in neuroscience"

"If you multiply the company's $1.1bn of unallocated corporate costs (which would be eliminated if the businesses were separated) by 11x (PepsiCo's multiple of enterprise value / 2014 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)), it costs shareholders $12bn of value, or $8 per share, to have beverages and snacks together in a holding company structure."

"Our interactions with a significant quorum of other shareholders holding BHP shares worth tens of billions of US$ have revealed extremely broad and deep-rooted support for pro-active steps to be taken by management to achieve an optimal value outcome for BHP’s petroleum business following an in-depth, open and timely independent review, with full disclosure of the review results"

"We were further troubled, as the Synlogic press release on June 12, 2019, announcing the $80MM Ginkgo investment stated that “At the closing under the foundry services agreement, Synlogic paid Ginkgo $30MM for “synthetic biology services to be provided over an initial period of five years....” – yet Ginkgo disclosed only $70-150K in its related party deferred revenue disclosure."

"Sadly for bulls, a pellicle-based thesis is a fantasy: TSMC – the largest player – doesn’t use pellicles for EUV masks and is content with non-actinic DUV tools; and for others like Intel, the ACTIS is highly contamination-prone and spews particles during inspection, defeating its purpose and requiring redundant inspection with KLA’s Teron DUV system, even if a pellicle is used."

"“The contract prices we have seen quoted are $50 or $90 thousand. Can these leagues afford this?” — Spruce Point; “No, to be honest, if I looked up countries within each region, America, Africa, Asia, $90 thousand would be a lot for them to pay each year. They have different priorities about development and digitization is not their core business.” — Former Genius Sports Manager"

"“The contract prices we have seen quoted are $50 or $90 thousand. Can these leagues afford this?” — Spruce Point. “No, to be honest, if I looked up countries within each region, America, Africa, Asia, $90 thousand would be a lot for them to pay each year. They have different priorities about development and digitization is not their core business.” — Former Genius Sports Manager"

"We heavily depend on intellectual property licensed from third parties and our licensors may not always act in our best interest. If we fail to comply with our obligations under our intellectual property licenses, if the licenses are terminated, or if disputes regarding these licenses arise, we could lose significant rights that are important to our business. — Procept 2023 10-K"

"The purpose of these actions is to have the management of the company carry out their management duties with more consideration of cost of capital and profitability based on the balance sheet, rather than just sales and profit levels on the income statement, in order to achieve sustainable growth and increase corporate value over the mid- to long-term. — JPX Tokyo Stock Exchange"

"In a meeting dated on or around 16th February 1998 between inter alia Mr. Guido Ferrando, a Director of the 1st Plaintiff and Mr. Wilson Kam, a manager of the Defendant, the Defendant produced a schedule entitled "Freight Calculation for Gaoyao Project" setting out the amounts it claimed to owe to the 1st and/or 2nd Plaintiffs in respect of the transhipment. — Statement of Claim"

""Now, I mean, talking to managers, you'd say disciplined execution? Really? I mean, is that a strategic priority? Isn't that what business is about? I mean, it's not just warm words and nice plans, you've got to execute, right? But we actually have put I think more of a discipline around it than what you typically find in an organization." — Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld, November 7, 2013"

""Batnairamdal Otgonshar, vice-minister at Mongolia's Mining and Heavy Industry Ministry, recently told S&P Global Commodity Insights that the country was ramping up its met coal exports to China. Mongolia aims to ship 36.7 million mt of met coal to China in 2022, the minister said. That will take 2022 volumes 161% higher from the last year level." — S&P Global Commodity Insights"

""So the clubs first and foremost can't be retail establishments. They can't be Herbalife signed stores. Okay?...The consumer cannot know it is a club until they have come inside. They can't know it has anything to do with Herbalife. So the windows are blocked, or – you can have no reference where somebody walking by will know it is Herbalife." — John DeSimone, CFO, Nov. 16, 2011"

"In October 2007, we acquired Zong Heng Pin Yu, which owned an advertising license for use on the Huangpu River in Shanghai, from an unrelated third party... As a result, we fully impaired the long-lived assets associated with our boat-based advertising platform in 2009, recording an aggregate impairment loss of $36.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2009. — FMCN 2010 20-F"

""Software-defined radio (SDR) is a radio communication system where components that have been typically implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented by means of software on a personal computer or embedded system." — Markus Dillinger, Kambiz Madani, Nancy Alonistioti (via Wikipedia/Wiley & Sons, 2003)"

""Volumes delivery, asset utilization and cost management, each require discipline, determination, attention to detail and a mindset that every barrel and every dollar matter. That is the mindset and culture of today's Suncor." — Rich Kruger, Suncor CEO, February 6, 2025; "We also delivered on our goal of improving refining performance..." — Mark Lashier, Q4 2024 Earnings Release"

"I would certainly not start by using Beacon. I think it's one of those situations where Berkeley Lights had a better model for getting pilot studies, and I was really convinced that it was just the way to go... But I think for the vast majority of people, using some other combination of technologies is a much better place to start. — Leading Academic Institution/Ex-BLI Scientist"

"“it didn't work...they screwed it up”; the Ushio source “has a lot of problems” such as tin-based “discharge that...creates a lot of junk...nearby optics get literally covered in tin pretty quickly” — Ex-Cymer scientist. “they did not show anything – I am really skeptical”; “as is, it would not work...it’s nothing but a lab prototype, slightly more than an idea.” — Cymer expert."

""Six months in, I started to notice that the implants were not comparing to the outcomes in the trials...and then, the company started seeing it. We weren't getting the results that we thought we were going to get...the company realized that at the 18 month mark and they started freaking out. Sort of every KOL was saying the device isn't working." — Former district sales manager"

"“Kao's iconic brands are waiting to be unleashed. The under-utilization of these beloved brands is a disservice to customers and shareholders alike. It's time for Kao's management to step up and tap into their full potential. We plan to hold them accountable until they act on the immense opportunities in front of them.” — Seth Fischer, Founder & Chief Investment Officer of Oasis"

"“they made a multitude of offers to try to get us to basically purchase more equipment.” — Senior employee at Marvell Technology; “other concessions were made like extended warranty service...at no additional cost...even guaranteeing service time like 60-70%...if not then we could take some kind of reimbursement...for the lost time of use” — Senior employee at Marvell Technology"

"Scorpion Capital LLC is short Soleno Therapeutics Inc. ("SLNO") (possibly along with or through its principals, members, partners, affiliates, employees, consultants, clients, investors, and/or related party entities or vehicles) and therefore stands to realize significant gains in the event that the price of its stock, bonds, options, and/or other securities decline or change."

"The development and druggability of tiprolisant (BF2.649 5), reportedly in Phase II clinical trials for a number of potential indications, including cognitive enhancement, have been questioned, since it had limited oral bioavailability, was a potent inhibitor of CYP2D6 and hERG, and also had the potential for inducing phospholipidosis, possibly due to the high clogP (4.8) [76]."

"However, when we zoomed into the beginning of 2020, the timeframe during which online education benefited the most, we found surprising data. One would think that a popular online education provider like GSX would likely benefit greatly from the recent coronavirus as a halt on all offline afterschool education was issued by the Chinese government. However, data shows otherwise."

"“At a high level, when we look at the landscape, we appear to be in the early days of a secular growth phase in mobile and online real money gaming, including online casino.” “We are very excited about the long-term opportunity to drive shareholder value…” “The growth opportunity in terms of new markets is expected to be immense…” — Niccolo De Masi, RSI M&A Call August 13, 2020"

""When I look back over the past five years, I think that as we look at our roadmap, there are probably areas where I wish we had innovated on faster in retrospect and maybe categories we had entered more aggressively. We ultimately did a bit of a reset with our product strategy and go to market model going back about kind of two to three years ago." — CEO Aaron Levie, June 2021"

"I believe that, as far as the numbers are concerned, discussion is possible. But you have an auditor, and you have others who are overseeing the audit. I also know that there are some in-house analysts who are also looking at the issue. A clear opinion has emerged, which we at the DSW share, that the numbers have not been manipulated, massaged or falsified. — Marc Tüngler (DSW)"

""We're in the third year of the 3-year program. We target $475 million this year. That's on top of $680 million done last year and then $550 million in 2016. Those costs have not flowed all to the bottom line on our side, because we're offsetting whether it's currency headwinds, declines in revenues, this past year, about 4.7% in constant currency." — William Osbourn, Xerox CFO"

"“In a conventional lithium-ion battery, the anode is like a sponge, and the lithium is absorbed into the sponge where the battery charges, but the sponge stays the same size. In a solid-state lithium metal anode, the anode is not a sponge. The anode is just lithium, and, therefore the cell expands when it charges. So, you have moving parts inside the battery.” — Former employee"

"“I doubt their ability to make that [a 70x85mm single layer prototype pouch cell] repeatedly in a reliable manner. You can see everything once and get lucky. You can do things maybe 10 times and be onto something. Whenever I see the data points, I always just wonder how many data points are in there and what is their yield? That's something they never report.” — Former employee"

"“Honeywell runs Sandia. What happened was when I was there, they were getting traps from Sandia and then when Honeywell announced that they were going to join the quantum computing game, they started fabricating their own traps, IonQ did. In the new machines, I think they fabricate their own traps. They made the switch in about the summer of 2020.” — Ex-IonQ employee, physicist"

"Fun place, poor leadership, male dominated... There's a mold- white men and young women. Lacks diversity in tight and leadership. Unsupportive over the pandemic in various ways... Advice to Management: Rob and the leadership team lack empathy and diversity - which is oh so needed especially during a pandemic. Get on board mentality or else. — Glassdoor Review (January 14, 2022)"

"During 2022, net cash provided by operating activities was $596 million, compared to $538 million in 2021. The $58 million year-over-year increase was primarily driven by higher customer prepayments, timing of employee benefit payments and lower interest payments. Higher working capital levels, reflecting increased sales, partially offset these items. — Xylem 2022 Annual Report"

"CFO Rowland: "We're also excited as we continue to lean in and drive a conversion of our revenue portfolio towards digital, that roughly 50% of this backlog is higher-margin digital business." — Investor Day Sept 2021; CFO Rowland: "And then, of course, our backlog has a higher digital mix. And so that will naturally bring with it some higher margins." — Q3'22 Earnings Nov 2022"

""Yes, remember, we -- you could arguably say we had 10 to 15 key patents burn off at the last -- last part of last year and I call those CAD/CAM patents which means you could design something on a computer screen and then 3D print it and that's what choked most companies from getting into the marketplace because you really couldn't scale." — Joseph Hogan – CEO, Align Technology"

""Now, they're having to move north into the Pacific Northwest, and I know they don't do that very well there. In the Midwest, where you've got conventional foundations, even up in the North, even up in New York City and higher, we've got a lot of conventional foundations, you don't use that much tile. They've got to figure out how to fill that void." — Former Industry Executive"

"During the year, our Mako installed base grew by 33% and exceeded another milestone with over 100 robots sold and installed in the fourth quarter. This growth continues to highlight the demand for our differentiated Mako robotic technology as well as our ongoing success selling and installing robots in major teaching institutions, ASCs and competitive accounts. — 2020 Conf Call"

"“...The entire episode has also revealed the limitations of ‘Disney nice.’ Avoiding face-to-face conflict, at least at the CEO and board level, fostered an environment where Iger and Chapek couldn’t hash out their differences. Executives who openly challenged others — Mayer, Rice, McCarthy — were ultimately dinged for their frankness...” — CNBC (Alex Sherman, September 6, 2023)"

"“they might push you and say, well, I think this liver is fine, you should use it... they are pushy...they’re a pushy company...they will say ‘I think this liver is going to work...I think it’s usable...you should use it...it’s their medical director, Attia...they lose the money...so they try really hard not to lose organs.” — Transplant surgeon at a high-volume academic center"

"Goodwill, Intangibles and Long-Lived Asset Impairment Tests: We perform our annual impairment test for goodwill in the fourth quarter of each year. We consider qualitative indicators of the fair value of a reporting unit when it is unlikely that a reporting unit has impaired goodwill and periodically corroborate that assessment with quantitative information. — Stryker 2021 10-K"

"Was wir oft gefragt werden, ist: "Wenn Ihr so viele Firmen übernehmt, wie löst Ihr die Themen mit der Integration?" Und ich habe da bei Vine(?) ein Video gefunden, was unseren Integrationsprozess eigentlich ganz gut beschreibt. Da kommt irgendwo eine neue Firma her – klar, muss integriert werden – Schwupp! Ist sie integriert. Und dann geht das Geschäft einfach weiter. — C. Sch."

"“everything could turn around in a second if KLA comes out with a superior tool...they’re out of business, basically.” — Longtime semiconductor equipment executive in Japan. “they were picked up by mass media newspapers and TV...that’s why they became popular...average people walking on the street have no idea what EUV is.” — Longtime semiconductor equipment executive in Japan."