Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"the business combination of steelmaking coal business (Teck) and thermal-coal business (Glencore) destroys value, not only for the reasons stated by Teck, but also because Teck's coal business is not in run-off mode, whilst Glencore announced that "rundown strategy is the responsible strategy for both our business and for the world""

"IDT’s reaction was—and I think still is—just patience. IDT lowered prices a little bit in key markets like Boston and the Bay area, but IDT actively avoided going head-to-head with customers that we knew Twist was offering insane prices because we figured that either Twist is going to run out of venture capital steam and pitter out."

"We believe the competitive landscape for HIMS has become significantly more crowded over the past two years. The Company faces new threats from some of the largest online platforms in the world as well as focused upstarts targeting specific product areas. We believe HIMS' has a historical pattern of understating competitive threats."

"Aegon trades at a slight discount to its peer median. However, we believe the Company deserves a deeper discount due to the considerable operational risk that exists in its Americas segment; we do not believe the Company's sell-side analysts have given proper attention to the risk that WFG's MLM structure presents in their analysis."

"The industry go-to source PCT recently conducted a poll which indicates that 25% of the industry is now using door-to-door sales. Moreover, in 2021 an article indicated there were 7,000 door-to-door salespeople. Making some modest assumptions indicates at a minimum, 140 million doors could be knocked on by pest salespeople per year."

"I do know at least two families that dropped out of the Vykat study...both of their kids got diabetes...they were not pre-diabetic...that’s concerning to me...and both of them are still now struggling with controlling diabetes...people who take this drug – you now have another problem that you have to treat, that’s a bigger problem."

"We've talked about sort of balancing the continued data center investments with a lot of the operational efficiency improvements and scale that we're seeing in the model...we'd expect our gross margin to begin trending back upwards sometime in the fiscal '18 year and then to remain in the 75% to 80% range. — Q1 FY2017 Box Commentary"

"In the Partial Final Award, the ICDR denied the remainder of Napo’s Counterclaims, granted additional injunctive relief in favor of Glenmark, awarded Glenmark its fees and costs in the Arbitration, and reserved for further hearing the reasonableness and quantum of Glenmark’s fees and costs. — Court Filing, Case 2:14-cv-02592-CCC-JBC"

"“had turned out to be the single greatest challenge” — Jagdeep Singh; “those were some dark times” — Jagdeep Singh; “every one of the systems we looked at was dendriting.” — Jagdeep Singh; “personal depression started to lift.” — Jagdeep Singh; “dreaded,” “nightmarish growth” that have long stumped battery researchers — The Mobilist"

"Once something is good enough, then you standardize it, and then you can interoperate. I use the metaphor of screws, once you converge on how many threads per inch and diameters of screws then innovations stops at the screw level and it goes up a level to machines. — Lane Desborough, Chief Engineer and Co-Founder, Bigfoot Biomedical"

""During 2016 we introduced a new model that intends to reshape our go-to-market strategy to scale our company in the coming years, called 50 Squared. The main goal of this new approach is to focus our team in the top 50 high potential accounts that have the capacity to grow exponentially over time." — Globant 20F filed April 7, 2017"

"“The midstream portfolio is made up of high-quality assets – these assets are just not getting the level of attention or capital allocation required to compete against peers. We need a renewed focus on stewarding these assets while exploring the most accretive mechanisms to realize value from the midstream portfolio.” — Michael Heim"

"“You said it's not usable by the average scientist - it just takes too long?” ... “Yeah, I personally don't think so. The technical knowledge that you need to be able to understand why is it different than a standard cell culture experiment... it's technically very challenging to use.” — Leading academic institution/ex-BLI scientist"

"“I was horrified” — Trial investigator #2. “Well, I actually asked the question because I was horrified when I saw it was $400,000. It’s not like it’s gene therapy or a new enzyme that’s being developed. It’s diazoxide, for Christ’s sake, you know. And I’m still waiting for an answer.” — Physician, KOL, and Vykat trial investigator."

"No difference in terms of daytime sleepiness assessed by the Epworth scale (primary endpoint) was demonstrated between the two groups: at the end of the study the mean score had decreased by 2.6 points in the pitolisant group and 2.1 points in the placebo group (p=0.595). — French National Authority for Health (via Google translate)"

"“So, one of the reasons I'm so positive about any medication that's coming to the market, regardless of whatever downsides there may or may not be or whatever limited potential there may or may not be, it's better than nothing. Is it the wonder drug? Absolutely not.” — Neurologist and sleep specialist in Chicago, speaker for Harmony"

"I think the excitement for this is on the wane. The peak excitement was right before we started prescribing it... we were fairly eager and excited, and then quite disappointed by how the burden of prescribing has really interfered with our ability to get people on it. — Physician and professor of neurology at a large academic center"

"Brendan Porter lost his medical license for conducting unsanctioned research studies on NXIVM members. In one study, dubbed the "Fright Study," Porter was alleged to have forced his subjects to watch violent and "horrific" video clips including footage of four women being dismembered with a machete. — Spruce Point Capital Management"

""We are pleased to have Trian as a significant shareholder. Nelson and Ed have an impressive track record as long-term investors, and their prior experience in asset management gives them a deep understanding of the significant growth opportunities of this industry." — G. Richard Wagoner, Chair of the Invesco Ltd. Board of Directors"

"“The discussions are really hard. I started to have them two years ago when I was there—they’re very hard with the customers. They’re really struggling about what to do. I’m not saying that the only reason why they delayed N3 but N3 right now is delayed.” — Former KLA executive in a leadership role in their EUV mask inspection group"

"Ex-employees, as well as other quantum computing experts who have previously worked closely with IonQ’s co-founder, stated the actual IonQ computer is “room-size, like garage size”; that its size is “like a car” and requires a separate table with a regular computer; and said it requires a “medium-sized room to operate” one machine."

"Some of these changes to the competitive landscape will be familiar to Align investors. Others will not. Spruce Point believes, however, that, taken as a whole, these developments will (and are beginning to) drive seismic shifts in the economics of the clear aligner space, which was until recently occupied by just one major player."

"From the end of 2013 to the end of 2016, Arconic invested $6.23 billion dollars in growth capital expenditures, research and development and acquisitions. For the $6.2 billion invested, Arconic generated an incremental $154 million of Net Operating Profit After Tax (NOPAT) for a Return on Incremental Invested Capital of merely 2.5%"

"We find no evidence that Kornit is hiring in Japan or has opened a Japanese office. It relies on two distributors in the country, and has only one regional manager we could identify, who has been with Kornit just one year. This suggests that Kornit is not prepared to grow with Amazon in Japan and may have already lost the business."

"Porch essentially barters its software for leads, which it then sells, yet doesn't record the transaction in cost of revenues. Given the subjectivity and managerial discretion on placing values for exchanged services in barter transactions, they have often been heavily scrutinized by the SEC and are susceptible to accounting fraud."

"With the FOIA data collected from the Florida DOT indicating a -22% decline in contact awards, and ROAD's commentary that new backlog over the period that Florida revenues ramped supported higher margins, we estimate the impact to the Company's EBITDA in FY25 to be approximately $10 - $15 million or approximately 3% - 5% of EBITDA."

"we find it concerning that Robinson spent so much time in a finance department which was shown to have cultivated a culture of fraud, serving in roles including Senior Vice President of Finance, Corporate Controller, CFO of one of CA’s subsidiaries, and Vice President in charge of internal audits (not specified on his Company bio)."

"A paper presented in January 2020 at NANS, the key annual neuromodulation meeting, indicated explant rates of 22% within 2 years and 33% within 4 years for Nevro’s product “despite repeated reprogramming sessions in the effort to achieve therapeutic optimization” – dwarfing the 1.2-3.7% rates Nevro’s own “paper” claimed by ~10-30x."

"Over the last five years, despite having a significantly profitable core Digital Telephony business, DSP appears to have managed itself to a slight operating loss (and slight EBITDA gain) almost every year, regardless of the Company's revenue, by making substantial investments in R&D and SG&A that have shown little if any progress."

"“I do believe that, but it's inflated by two customers and I know they won't tell you, but I know, they acquired a very large gambling contract (one of the biggest in the UK), which, contributed a lot more growth to it, but also, you know, where they are focused at the moment, enabling new gambling regions.” — Former Nuvei Employee"

"You then said you had an investigation conducted by Ernst & Young (EY). This is the same company that prepared the annual financial statements. What did you expect? That they would come forward and say, Oops, sorry, we've made a mistake, we're returning our auditor's licence to practice? This is laughable. — Shareholder at 2016 AGM"

"We will also be very focused on achieving a better return on invested capital for our retail businesses, in effect, getting more from our existing assets. And we will refocus on our automotive business. This Company had its beginnings in that business, our two founders selling tires and servicing cars. — 2009 Annual Report (page 3)"

"And just finally, wrapping up, what makes Boot Barn unique? We are truly a lifestyle brand. I think sometimes we're kind of grouped in with just specialty retail in general, but we are truly a lifestyle brand. We have an extremely loyal customer. The vast majority of our sales go through our B Rewarded loyalty program. — CEO Conroy"

"If Arconic's board is so ‘uniquely positioned’ to steer the company in the right direction, why did it wait until after Elliott raised some of these issues to do something about them? Alcoa seems to have found the time to improve its corporate governance following the split in November. — Brooke Sutherland, Bloomberg, March 6, 2017"

"TI plans to construct the building and infrastructure ahead of market demand, followed by stages of equipment installation as demand increases. This construction method spreads capital investment over a period of years and allows the company to increase production quickly as customers demand more products. — TI Press Release (2003)"

""TurboTax and H&R Block now use AI for tax advice. It’s awful." — Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post. "We have always believed our customers can benefit most from the power of AI, bringing professional grade resources to individuals that need it most around the world, tipping the odds in their favor." — Sasan Goodarzi, Intuit CEO."

""We are pleased to welcome Ferebee Corporation to the Construction Partners family of companies, expanding our geographic footprint into western North Carolina. As a platform acquisition, Ferebee creates another engine for growth driven by a talented and experienced team under the leadership of Chris and David Ferebee." — CEO Smith"

"Over the past seven years, we have focused on international crude oil developments to capitalize on our peak-oil theory [...] The Company has focused on international development and production-related crude oil projects almost to the exclusion of more cyclical, exploration-related activities. — Core Laboratories 2009 Annual Report"

"“The profit arising from license income sales to joint ventures in 2015 represents revenue of £15,310,000 offset by an elimination of unrealised profit of £7,286,000 relating to our retained interest in the Compound Semiconductor Centre Limited joint venture. No such elimination has occurred in 2016.” — IQE Annual Report disclosure"

"The Applicant analyzed the effect of the 20 mg dose compared to placebo and the 40 mg dose compared to placebo in the stable dose period. The relative risk of cataplexy events in the 20 mg dosing group was 0.392 (95% CI [0.270, 0.571]; p < 0.0001) and 0.623 in the 40 mg dosing group (95% CI [0.510, 0.761]; p < 0.0001). — FDA Review"

"Yes, yes. Namely owned by Mr. Peng Qingyun, but in reality its managed by the boss. So how do I know this, it’s because I’m familiar with this companies’ HR manager. We would often go and eat together. And all of the subsidiaries in each part of the country are overseen by him and his team. So I know this company very well. — Mr. C"

"Is management really suggesting that these other tracked retailers represent no more than 4% of sales in total? Why is sales growth through tracked channels allegedly so different from sales growth through untracked channels anyways, and why is PetIQ able to so powerfully outpace the negative growth of one of its major categories?"

"The fact that a well-respected medical device company in the diabetes space sees the Libre as sufficiently accurate to include within its own closed-loop system as an exclusive partner gives us confidence that the Libre's slightly higher MARD versus the G5 and G6 is neither a significant technological nor competitive disadvantage."

"These eight CEOs were not charismatic visionaries, nor were they drawn to grandiose strategic pronouncements. They were practical and agnostic in temperament, and they systematically tuned out the noise of conventional wisdom by fostering a certain simplicity of focus, a certain asperity in their cultures and their communications."

"We believe sell-side targets do not account for the structural risks that exist in the Company due to Aegon's significant reliance on WFG to drive financial results, nor does it properly account for potential continued weakness in the international business or the potential for earnings volatility in the asset management business."

"The culture is very toxic. What's going on with firing people who speak up? I mean, that's like Theranos. I just think that it's lying about stuff that's creating an extremely toxic culture, silencing, it's basically killing off naysayers by firing them...The culture is pretty toxic. There are some really terrible things going on."

"Heska has a modest IP portfolio of five patents, including several very old Cuattro patents related to radiography for equine applications. Heska shares recently jumped when the Company filed for a patent presumably related to a new product. However, it was only for a cartridge design, and the inventor doesn't even work for Heska."

"Below is what Aerojet’s balance sheet would look like without the effect of the recent adoption. What’s clear is that its working capital trends are progressively deteriorating. Thus, in addition to the income statement benefit from the accounting change, Aerojet also conveniently appears to be masking balance sheet deterioration."

"DWAC's S-1 disclosures consistently and unambiguously state that DWAC had not "selected any specific business combination target" and had "not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us.""

"We own wells on certain areas of land in northwest Oklahoma under which TLW Land & Cattle LP ("TLW LC"), an entity in which Mr. Ward has an ownership interest, owns a royalty interest. In 2011, we paid royalties totaling $925,735 to TLW-LC in connection with the production of oil and natural gas from these properties. — 2012 proxy"

"Peter joined Marvell at a critical time for the Company and drove crucial changes that were needed to get the company back on track. His insights and influence as a director have catalyzed the changes that have transformed Marvell into a healthy, well-functioning company with strong financial results. — Matt Murphy, CEO of Marvell"

"In Turkey - as in Germany - we are a clear market leader with our outside advertising with an over 50% market share. In 2015, we earned an operating EBITDA result of €14,000,000 with a cash flow of over €80,000,000 in sales in an admittedly relatively difficult market environment from a geopolitical perspective. — Udo Müller (CEO)"

"From Muddy Waters we have learned that, in the short term, one can only effectively defend oneself to a limited extent against false claims and insinuations. Ultimately, we are firmly convinced that it is the most effective way to rebut Muddy Waters & Co. through continuous business success and concrete action. — Ströer Management"

"“The lead independent director facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning” — BlackRock Investment Stewardship, Proxy voting guidelines for U.S. securities Effective as of January 2024"

""It will be acceptable to indicate eventual possible appreciation in the event of confidence returning to such a degree as to produce unduly rapid monetary expansion, but such an indication must carry complete conviction that the rate would only ever be adjusted in that direction." — Internal Hong Kong government policy memo, 1983"

""As you’ll be aware, 2025 Brent strip is at around $75 per barrel, and other commodities and prices, including refining margins, are under pressure. Were these prices to play out, the rule of thumb impact in 2025 would be around $4 billion – but that’s a price call that we don’t know at this stage" — BP CEO at the Q2 2024 results."

""Dr. Ignarro has basically started the world on the track of nitric oxide, has made the world understand that a healthy blood flow is a healthy body. And we are the first company to come out with a nitric oxide product in the marketplace, it was laughed at initially and now it is copied." — Michael Johnson, Herbalife CEO, 11-28-07"

""The lead independent director facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning" — BlackRock Investment Stewardship, Proxy voting guidelines for U.S. securities Effective as of January 2024"

"“And I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved. I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed…That’s an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.” — Robert A. Iger, CEO & Director, November 2023"

"The Meridian Speedway ... is a corridor that serves NS' intermodal segment and goes between the Southeast and the central Texas market and the Southeast and Southwest markets in California and Arizona ... NS stressed the importance of the corridor to its business when STB was reviewing the merger between CP and KCS. — FreightWaves"