Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

""Insurers are making it even harder. Getting approval for spinal cord stimulation is the hardest it has been. In some local code determinations, they're making doctors send the patient to a neurosurgeon who writes a letter stating the patient is not a candidate for spinal cord stimulation." — KOL, high volume implanter"

"“there was uncertainty around how much we were relying on additional receivable sales, and there was uncertainty about how much we would sell in receivables. That’s the biggest change that is leading to this [updated guidance] and flowing that through speaks to the majority of the change in our GPU line item.” — Garcia"

""The Thailand National Anti-Corruption Commission (NCCC) has investigated the case of the unusual wealth of Mr. Suphot Saplom, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation and found that his wife Mrs. Narumol Sublom was given cash by Mr. Anek Jongsathien, used to purchase automobiles" — Isranews.org"

"Remitly's valuation premium is better illustrated graphically. We understand the case of Remitly's valuation being above the legacy players that have larger physical footprints and more hardware exposure (e.g. Euronet (ATMs) & Western Union (stores)), we do not believe its large premium to Wise or PayPal is justified."

"A close partnership (or merger) between VIP and PetIQ was the best of both worlds for Merial. Merial's support of such an arrangement would not surprise us: anecdotally, veterinarians report that Merial turned a blind eye to grey market diversion through the early to mid 2010s in a similar effort to push retail sales."

"We find it extremely suspicious that management conveniently chose to stop disclosing this number this year, just as their TAM runway is beginning to run out by our estimates, and just as product-level sales growth patterns appear to reveal sales growth has been driven by factors other than growth in the patient base."

"Warning: Oatly's prospectus claims there is no pronounced seasonality in its business. However, Spruce Point uncovered an academic study in Sweden, at the same university its founder conducted its research, that contradicts this. In fact, the report claims that since launch, Oatly has experienced a seasonable pattern."

"Warning: If in fact Oatly is right and that it will never be able to supply enough oat milk, then we believe its future will be doomed. We expect competitors will continue to fill the void and take market share. In the long run, we see a real possibility that Oatly is squeezed out of the market and towards insolvency."

"We believe an ownership threshold of 20% to call a special meeting strikes a reasonable balance between enhancing shareholder rights and protecting against the risk that a small minority of shareholders could trigger a special meeting resulting in unnecessary financial expense and disruption to State Street's business"

"We believe the Company’s stock price underperformance versus both peers and the broader market indices is due to consistently poor financial performance, a lack of credibility from repeatedly failing to deliver on commitments to shareholders, and a history of problematic governance that fails to demand accountability."

"Notably, with much of Hill-Rom's c-suite fairly new to the business, we believe that – with much of its long-term equity incentives locked up for several years at least – management has incentive to re-set expectations to manageable targets now, rather than leave investors expecting Hill-Rom to hit unattainable goals."

"Notably, with much of Hill-Rom's c-suite fairly new to the business, we believe that – with much of its long-term equity incentives locked up for several years at least – management has incentive to re-set expectations to manageable targets now, rather than leave investors expecting Hill-Rom to hit unattainable goals."

"So I really think that kind of the 7 and 8 caps that you saw at retail and even some of the 9 caps on the institutional transaction, like a lot of assets in many different areas, were a function of the abundant and cheap financing that was out there, and it shouldn't be too surprising to see cap rates moving up again."

"TIP REIT will be required to fund land capex for the first two years after the spin-off. Thereafter, TIP REIT will be Target Corp’s land developer through its Preferred Vendor Agreement. As such, Target Corp will generate significant free cash flow and will likely deleverage to an A-/A3 ratings profile after two years"

"Oasis's proposals are additive only and are not calling for shareholders to oppose any incumbent directors; we believe there is benefit in having a larger board, like sector peers, allowing for the addition of specialized expertise while retaining existing directors to ensure continuity and stability for shareholders."

"The COGS software and payment line quickly collapsed and became less transparent after its IPO. Support costs clearly changed, and were revised lower, while “other third-party” costs increased and include Lightspeed Payments. Payments is a big growth story for management, but it doesn’t disclose granular cost details."

"Fast forward to TFS’s FY 2010 results and any mention of the outstanding institutional investor’s payment is non-existent. However, the breakdown of receivables shows a massive growth in amounts outstanding from institutional investors despite management’s prior assertion that future BC sales would be on a cash basis!"

"One possible reason why you have not been more realistic in your public assessments of TeliaSonera’s corrupt actions is that you understand that the scale of corruption is jaw-dropping, but you have a misguided belief that the best course of action is to say as little as possible publicly (and possibly to regulators)."

"The liability is initially measured at fair value based on the present value of estimated removal costs... corresponding asset retirement costs are capitalized as part of the carrying amount of the solar energy system and depreciated over the solar energy system’s remaining useful life. — Sunnova (via 202110-K, p. 88)"

""He’s prepping Vivendi almost as a family company to be passed onto the next generation." — Tom Singlehurst, Citi, October 17, 2017; "Vincent Bolloré seems to be managing Vivendi more for his family and inheritance interests than for the benefit of all Vivendi shareholders." — Denis Branche, Phitrust, October 17, 2017"

""[Sino-Forest] can categorically say Sino-Forest is not the ‘near total fraud’ and ‘Ponzi scheme’ as alleged by Muddy Waters...Far from being a ‘near total fraud’ and ‘Ponzi scheme’ as alleged by Muddy Waters, Sino-Forest is a real company, with real assets and real revenue." — Sino-Forest Independent Committee Report"

"If Val-gan can grow organically at a high single-digit rate as Valeant management projects, and management can invest the company’s free cash flow in new acquisition targets at historical rates of return, then we believe management can achieve its goal of 15%-20% annual EPS growth — Valeant Presentation April 22, 2014"

"To Baidu we say, “You’ve announced that you’re going to pay seven percent of your market cap in cash for a business that’s almost entirely fraudulent. The enormous scale of this fraud will be inescapable in due diligence. You say there are real ethics and respect for the law at Baidu? Show us.” — Muddy Waters Research"

"“But the reality is this is nothing special. It’s like any other biotech company that provides antibody engineering or library services. So, there’s not much of a differentiator. They’re really hard to sell, but with that many people [in sales], that’s why they do get business.” — Former Twist employee, director-level"

"Under the new M&A guidelines, the special committee could choose its own separate independent financial advisor to come up with unbiased valuation opinions if the committee is concerned about the independence of the target company's financial advisor — Shinpei Ochi, deputy director of Meti's corporate system division."

""The key word in describing my relationship with Nelson is that it has been constructive. Nelson and I worked best together by being transparent and candid with each other, leveraging his experiences and that of his team as we worked through various challenges." — Joseph A. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO, Legg Mason, Inc."

""Peltz and his founding partners, Peter May and Ed Garden, have a reputation as savvy operators and tend to be seen as a constructive presence in boardrooms, a goal they've managed to achieve in recent years through a combination of public prodding and private suasion." — Kevin Allison, Reporter, Reuters Breakingviews"

""This is very similar," Fischer said of the Alps and Alpine Electronics case. PanaHome was "a successful investment for Oasis. We are glad we achieved a better result for all minority shareholders. It's not as good a result as we had wanted for all minority shareholders, but still we achieved a good result." — Fischer"

"AS A BOARD MEMBER NELSON IS ABOUT THE NUMBERS, ABOUT THE DATA AND HOW TO MAKE OPERATING PERFORMANCE BETTER, FASTER. HE WAS COLLEGIAL AND OPEN MINDED. HE WAS FOCUSED ON THE BEST PATH TO INCREASE LONG TERM VALUE. — Candace Kendle, Former Co-Founder and CEO, Kendle International, and former Director of H.J. Heinz Company"

""The key word in describing my relationship with Nelson is that it has been constructive. Nelson and I worked best together by being transparent and candid with each other, leveraging his experiences and that of his team as we worked through various challenges." — Joseph A. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO, Legg Mason, Inc."

""...we do not view any of these metrics, individually or collectively, as key performance indicators..." — Intuit Response to SEC; "...in future interim and annual filings... we will quantify, where possible, the extent to which each change contributed to the overall change in that line item." — Intuit Response to SEC"

"AS A BOARD MEMBER NELSON IS ABOUT THE NUMBERS, ABOUT THE DATA AND HOW TO MAKE OPERATING PERFORMANCE BETTER, FASTER. HE WAS COLLEGIAL AND OPEN MINDED. HE WAS FOCUSED ON THE BEST PATH TO INCREASE LONG TERM VALUE. — Candace Kendle, Former Co-Founder and CEO, Kendle International, and former Director of H.J. Heinz Company"

""The key word in describing my relationship with Nelson is that it has been constructive. Nelson and I worked best together by being transparent and candid with each other, leveraging his experiences and that of his team as we worked through various challenges." — Joseph A. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO, Legg Mason, Inc."

"“Peltz and his founding partners, Peter May and Ed Garden, have a reputation as savvy operators and tend to be seen as a constructive presence in boardrooms, a goal they've managed to achieve in recent years through a combination of public prodding and private suasion.” — Kevin Allison, Reporter, Reuters Breakingviews"

"to pursue multiyear upfront contracts with enterprise customers to help meet its fiscal year 2023 free cash flow goal. Upfront billings of enterprise customers in fiscal year 2023 substantially exceeded historical levels, helping the company to meet its lowered annual free cash flow target. — Autodesk (quoted in text)"

""The reduction in underlying net (other) sales was due primarily to declines in used barrel sales reflecting lower prices and volumes as a result of weaker demand from blended Scotch industry buyers and pricing pressures due to increased supply of used barrels in the market." — Brown-Forman (10-Q p. 24, filed 12/7/16)"

"Based on the review of our 2004 financial statements following our initial release of unaudited financial statements on March 10, 2004, we announced on May 10, 2004 that we had determined to make adjustments to our 2004 financial statements, including the following: [list of adjustments] — Descartes 2004 Annual Report"

"Essentially, I think what's going to happen is at the end of 2025, they're going to have all these investigations wrapped up, and they're going to put everything down, and they're going to pick winners, and they're going to pick losers. — CEO of a major OPO (Organ Procurement Organization), longtime industry executive"

"We shouldn't use DCF if the company is fast changing and difficult to forecast. We shouldn't use DCF if we're selling the company from one private equity firm to another. In that scenario, an LBO model would be better. And we shouldn't use DCF for certain types of businesses, such as banks. — Financial Modeling Course"

"In Q3 2021, Nuvei made another modification to its “Focus on High Growth Verticals” slide. Looking carefully, we see it now removed the sales TAM per vertical in addition to the CAGR expectation. Furthermore, Nuvei no longer makes the statement of “tremendous upside from continuing to gain share in a massive market.”"

"GFL is acquiring Advance Disposal Services assets. If, by its own admission, it is getting a mixed bag of imperfect assets, than how is it possible based on the metrics it told investors, that the assets are among the most productive and profitable in the industry, and even above Waste Management's corporate average?"

"Note that the magnitude of management’s EBITDA adjustments will only grow over time. In particular, with new wellness center openings set to reach 200-300 per year in FY21-23, with each new wellness center incurring one-time opening expenses of $70K, new clinic launch expenses could approach $15-20M within 3-5 years."

"As we discussed in our investor presentation, we believe this poor capital allocation was the direct result of poor corporate governance at the Board level, including shareholder-unfriendly compensation practices that incentivized management to pursue growth at the expense of returns on capital and shareholder value."

"Given the totality of our forensic research that indicates Zebra's business is under rising pressures from Chinese competition, diminished returns on R&D and innovation, and poorly timed and levered acquisitions that aren't paying off as planned, we are puzzled as to why Zebra's valuation multiple has been expanding."

"The increase was reflective of building inventory to support net sales growth, as well as $8.7 million related to Naturium inventory, and $27.7 million related to a change in certain vendor arrangements where we now take ownership of inventory at shipment from China versus when it enters our U.S. distribution center."

"HIMS' prices for its core products are significantly higher than widely available alternatives. In fact, we would argue that the massive annual savings available from other sources more than offsets the cost, inconvenience, or potential stigma from doctor visits. We believe such pricing disparities are unsustainable."

"DV does not disclose the contribution to revenues from acquisitions to calculate organic growth. The CFO recently referenced M&A as accelerating organic growth. However, based on our analysis we disagree and find that absent the contribution from OpenSlate and Meetrics that organic revenue growth decelerated in 2022."

"The upshot is that while Continental might eat the losses for Aurora on the first few thousand trucks, come the next hardware upgrade cycle, that cost will end up where it belongs – on the truck itself, where it will increase the cost to the customer, reducing the ceiling on what Aurora could charge for its software."

"This analysis has identified multiple clusters of deceptive behavior. My findings strongly suggest that Casino is not being completely revelatory concerning their deleveraging plan, their accounting practices, the French “recovery”, Brazil, and their fears surrounding the S&P re-evaluation of their credit worthiness."

"In April 2021, we admitted a tax equity investor as the Class A member of Sunnova TEP V-A, LLC ("TEPVA"), a subsidiary of Sunnova TEP V-A Manager, LLC, which is the Class B member of TEPVA. The Class A member of TEPVA made a total capital commitment of approximately $25.0 million. — Sunnova disclosure in Q2 2021 10-Q"

"Q: So this company was a subsidiary of ANTA, right? Mr. B: Right, it’s within their system, considered a subsidiary, because, so when I was there they were all… so these 51, so these 51 (customers/distributors) included some of these customers, so these customers were also a subsidiary 分公司 — Anonymous Source (Mr. B)."

"The coal price assumptions are the same assumptions that we use in all of our businesses. But what I can say is they are below the consensus curves. And the adjustment in valuation, not only was our external auditor, E&Y, comfortable with, but our Audit Committee and our board are very comfortable with. — Mr. Alireza"

"We are not satisfied with [RINO's] technology because the desulphurization rate is lower than what we want. — Panzhihua employee. I've heard that the sinter built by RINO in Jinan has stopped running. Their technology has no advantage beside not producing wastewater. — Employee from fabricated client Lai Steel Group."

"Peltz and his founding partners, Peter May and Ed Garden, have a reputation as savvy operators and tend to be seen as a constructive presence in boardrooms, a goal they've managed to achieve in recent years through a combination of public prodding and private suasion.” — Kevin Allison, Reporter, Reuters Breakingviews"

""The proposed acquisition will give Apollo the right to at least two board seats indefinitely (assuming it maintains its equity position above a specified threshold) and, pursuant to standstill and voting obligations, will lock in Apollo's support for the current board of directors and management." — Land & Buildings"

"“Disney has an experienced, diverse, and highly qualified Board that is focused on the long-term performance of the Company, strategic growth initiatives including the ongoing transformation of its businesses, the succession planning process, and increasing shareholder value.” — The Walt Disney Company, December 2023"

""It is very risky for Lightspeed because they are on the hook for paying the customer if the business goes belly up... They own 100% of the risk." — Former Lightspeed Payments Employee; "The $16 billion GTV number is a PR number... there's no way to say there's money backed up behind it." — Former Lightspeed Employee"

"Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Top-Line Results from CheckMate-026, a Phase 3 Study of Opdivo (nivolumab) in Treatment-Naïve Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Opdivo did not meet trial primary endpoint of progression-free survival in patients expressing PD-L1 ≥ 5% — Bristol-Myers Squibb Press Release"

"DiRicco, who prepared SOC's 2012 corporate income tax returns, was convicted in 1989 for conspiring to defraud the United States, aiding and abetting in the preparation of false tax returns, and obstruction of justice; and, in 2000, for interference with administration of internal revenue laws — Legal filing excerpt."

"“Future phases may expand into integrating Datavault AI’s proprietary data solutions for digital twin modeling, predictive analytics, inventory logistics and management as well as blockchain-based tools to secure supply chains and authenticate critical components throughout their lifecycle.” — DVLT PR July 22nd, 2025"