Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

"Late through the IPO process, and a month before finally IPO'ing, TASK revised its financial statements that impacted CFO and Capex. But beware, TASK has not always been so forthcoming with its revisions, and has shown a pattern of sloppy and inconstant reporting that should put investors on high alert."

"We believe that the most recent (February 2017) MRE contains flaws similar in scope and form to those of earlier Nkran estimates. There are indications the models have been smeared, which means to overweight positive results – extrapolating them out broadly – but underweight or ignore “zero intercepts.”"

"The fact that Skymoons was not the true originator of the design of its only successful game and depended upon both creativity and talent of others as well as IQ’s investments and marketing power to promote and commercialize the game completely undermines the ridiculous valuation that IQ ascribed to it."

"User Black_seo offers “Boost your online reputation with our premium Trustpilot review services. We provide both Verified Trustpilot Reviews ($10) and Non-Verified Trustpilot Reviews ($5). Perfect for businesses looking to increase credibility, attract more customers, and rank higher in search engines.”"

"“Our investment thesis is simple, we are a team of operators and we’ll build lasting shareholder value through consistent NOI growth” — CEO (BRX first earnings call). “10th consecutive quarter of SS NOI growth in excess of 3.5%. “No other sector peer can make this statement”” — CEO (4Q14 earnings call)."

""I feel stupid, I should have did a little more research." — Powerhome Solar Customer; "The idea and proposal is wonderful, but it doesn't work." — Powerhome Solar Customer; "Everything they tell you is a lie." — Powerhome Solar Customer; "I drank the Kool-Aid, I'm losing it." — Powerhome Solar Customer"

"Local officials in the community in which Riot has staked its financial future recognized the industry's penchant for overpromising jobs, raised alarms around the facility's energy and water use, and determined incentivizing further expansion was "[not] a good investment." — Navarro County Commissioners"

"“We do understand that Cisco has written down its investment. But Cisco is in the equity, which of course is the first thing to go in a troubled telecom situation. We’re in with a fairly sophisticated group of bondholders here and we think there are some interesting recovery possibilities.” — Mr. Walton"

"In the quarter, small-class ASP decreased by 9.9% in USD terms year-over-year. The decrease was mainly caused by significant enrollment contribution from Peiyou online, of which the price is much lower than Peiyou off-line classes. — Echo Yan, Director of Investor Relations, TAL FY2018, Q4 earnings call"

"“over the past four years, we ordered approximately one billion base pairs of synthetic DNA from Twist” — Ginkgo CEO. “20 different companies developing different technologies which have proof of principle...or have the potential to compete quite dramatically with Twist.” — Early and key Twist customer."

"Mike Glover, who has submitted his resignation and will pursue other opportunities. — Blucora Press Release. Severance Payments to Terminated Executives in 2014. Pursuant to their separation agreements, Michael Glover received a $316,000 lump sum severance payment in 2014 — Blucora 2015 Proxy Statement."

""I think we expect to get back in our organic core business back into the 5% to 7% growth range across both of those businesses really driven by net new sales, as Tim talked about earlier in both our capital markets business and wealth management business." — CFO Reese, Q4 2021 Conf Call, April 12, 2021"

"“We have repeatedly commented on the increasing complexity of Burford’s investment transactions, and the Jaguar investment is an example of both investment and accounting complexity – but also an illustration of our success in turning complexity into profit.” — Burford Capital 2017 Annual Report, p. 23."

"It is a single flight which has very limited explanatory power, and it is not in a meaningful amount of dust, in being from an airport in a city environment as compared to Joby’s footage over the desert. A manufacturer would require 100’s or 1,000’s of flights to get a meaningful dataset. — Footnote 143"

"KLA is working on it...NuFlare is working on a tool and ASML has a division where they’re working on a multi-beam inspection tool...which means it has much better throughput compared to the Holon inspection tool. — Longtime, senior semicap equipment executive in Japan who is friendly with Lasertec’s CEO"

"But don't worry, the underwriters who have promoted GFL’s stock to investors have “reputational risk” committees which vet clients. In the case of Goldman Sachs, did that stop them from funding 1MDB and Jho Low? And Did J.P. Morgan’s risk committee weigh in on dealing with sex offender Jeffery Epstein?"

"If the court deems Mosten's arguments to be valid, Mosten would be able to deposit an unlimited amount of premiums into the tax-exempt account before November 18 of each year, receive a 0.85% bonus on that amount on November 19 of each year and almost immediately withdraw the funds including the bonus."

"Amazon has been rumored to enter the pharmacy business (Bloomberg.com) and the Whole Foods acquisition implies that the expansion of the Amazon eco-system could pose secular risks to a significant portion of what historically has been deemed safe haven real estate assets for the triple-net lease space."

"Spruce Point is concerned that long-time fundamental growth owners have either given up or rotated out of Kratos, and have not returned despite the renewed optimism for Unmanned Systems. Instead, we find the disturbing reality that Kratos’ share price has been driven by rules-based index and ETF buying"

"Kao’s management is aware that it has brands and the products to compete internationally, and knows what needs to be done, yet, they have decided not to do so. Management is lacking the ambition and strategic vision to achieve its true potential. Kao has top decile brands, but bottom decile management."

"Signatories for each sequential amendment seem to have moved down the food chain. Baker Hughes signatories began with its Chief Marketing & Technology Officer while the last amendment was just signed by a VP of Operations. Further, Derek Mathieson and Uwem Ukpong are no longer employed by Baker Hughes."

"The HIMS care model is seemingly optimized for the high-volume issuance of prescriptions. Whether or not that is appropriate for more discretionary issues like ED, we believe it limits the new indications HIMS can target and conflicts with the story HIMS tells investors about its business and strategy."

"HIMS crafts a narrative that it is a healthcare company. We believe the Company has done this to both distract from the fact that its products are highly commoditized and to present a larger TAM to investors, not to mention attempt to get the higher valuation multiples ascribed to healthcare companies."

"Disney's non-management Directors comprise current and former CEOs of some of the largest companies in the world, but they collectively own only ~$15 million of Disney stock – representing just 0.008% of Disney's shares outstanding and much of which was received as Director's fees paid in Disney shares"

"DV has created more confusion by referencing on its website that only "hundreds of companies" turn to DV for its services. If this is the case, can one company represent multiple customers? Furthermore, the cover of its prospectus, last filed November 2021, references "1,000+ Advertisers and Partners.""

"So India is not -- it's teetering on the top ten market for us. We went into India ten years ago. And we went in and it was a big -- it's called pop and drop. You go in. A lot of distributors come in. They recruit and you get a lot of volume. Those distributors leave the country and you get a big drop."

"For many years, management has been diverting capital to share repurchases, up until recently when it levered itself to acquire Itiviti. Throughout its public history, insiders have been consistently selling stock. Total insider ownership has declined every year since 2016, down to just 1.6% from 3.5%."

"Former BLI scientist details how universities and research institutions had experiences as disastrous as commercial pharma/biotech customers: UCSF and NIH both returned the equipment after 6-9 months; couldn't get publishable data of the system; chose cheaper, faster boxes from 10X Genomics and others."

"Disney’s non-management Directors comprise current and former CEOs of some of the largest companies in the world, but they collectively own only ~$15 million of Disney stock - representing just 0.008% of Disney’s shares outstanding and much of which was received as Director’s fees paid in Disney shares"

"With no gross margin volatility, EBITDA margins consistently expand. USCR has offered an identical boilerplate explanation that it is related to volume, pricing, and efficiencies, up until recently. We will explore how aggressive use of capital leases likely explain some of the EBITDA margin expansion."

"a lot of people are very pissed off with the company...a lot of people are very pissed off because they are acting too greedy and predatory. I really support that letter from that Congressman. Again, a lot of people in different transplant centers are very pissed off.... I can tell you, I hate the CEO."

"Norfolk Southern shareholders will benefit from electing Mr. Clyburn to the Board because his various experiences will add a unique perspective, one that is unavailable from any other board candidate, that prioritizes safety, compliance, good governance, and maximizing long-term value for shareholders."

"The ex-Abbott scientist indicated that the bioavailability problems are inherent to all drugs in the class due to first-pass metabolism by CYP3A4, an enzyme that degrades the drug in the gut and liver before it enters general circulation or the brain – “metabolism is the biggest problem you have here.”"

"Based on the tables above, which were created using only numbers disclosed by QTT in SEC filings and calculations based on numbers disclosed by QTT it is abundantly clear to us that this business is structurally unprofitable and will inevitably fail without constant injections from the capital markets."

"Given the significant overlap between the Board and legal counsel of DSP and CEVA, we are concerned whether the ultimate decision to license technology from CEVA for DSP’s HDClear solution was compromised by the potential financial benefit to these individuals arising from their relationship with CEVA."

"“The transaction provides the ability for stockholders to elect to either monetize their investment or participate in any upside potential with KKR as a committed partner that believes in the growth strategy that the Box Board and management team are executing.” — Company Issued Press Release, May 2021"

""I don't think natural gas will ever go up. Natural gas cost me my job back in 1996. I counted on $5 gas and I got $2. It cost Aubrey McClendon his job, and Tom Ward his job, Doug Miller his job. There's a dozen of us that bet on natural gas and never got a pay-off." — T. Boone Pickens, October 6, 2015"

""...that's the one area of the business [asymptomatic monitoring] that I was never bullish on... screening the whole population for AF only to find out that 70% of your population has it doesn't make sense from a healthcare test perspective. That's asking the wrong question." — Former iRhythm Executive"

"“Despite the positive progress we've seen, we believe our stock is significantly undervalued and represents one of the best opportunities in the market today [...]. Today, we announced another substantial issuer bid for up to $15 million at a price between $17 and $20 per share.” — Mr. Proud, 5/10/2023"

"I have tens of thousands of people selling with us around the market today at -- with the Microsoft Azure team. I have 4,000 professionals selling with us at Google Cloud and Thomas Kurian. I have 12,000 people selling with us in oil gas from Baker Hughes. — CEO Siebel, Needham Conference, Jan 11, 2022"

"“So I was really doing well on the top line, which is great because that’s where you get your bonus. You also get some bonus on the revenue end of it. But I was killing sales plan, but I was burning through cash because, we had way too much inventory when we grand opened.” — Tegus-sourced Store Manager"

"Billing is an absolute nightmare and causing many frustrations with clients - the issue is left on the AM team to chase billing for updates — Glassdoor Review (May 2022). The billing function is understaffed and clients and team members are leaving due to the incompetence — Glassdoor Review (Jan 2022)."

""We of course, not only offer our products, but our biggest product is this business opportunity here. And of course, if you take advantage of the business opportunity, the first thing you want to do is put the mask on yourself. And take advantage of the products that we have to offer." — WFG Recruiter"

"“Sorry, my other question was on CTV. I was really interested that the CTV revenue grew 12%, but overall video grew 26%, which is quite a slowdown in CTV. So could you actually speak to, in more detail, why is video revenue growing so much faster than CTV revenue in the first quarter?” — Analyst Martin"

"“We even have a challenge in R&D in recruiting scientific groups to use these new methods. It partially might be learning a new technology, which is a barrier, but it's also scientists get set in their ways. With flow cytometry, it's an old technology, but it works.” — Bristol Meyers Squibb employee #1"

"Ready for consolidation: Buyouts eye fragmented fertility clinics — Private Equity News. Fertility Inc.: Inside the big business of babymaking — FORTUNE. This Venture Capital Fund Wants to Get You Pregnant — Institutional Investor. Wall Street greed's latest target: fertility clinics — Take on Wall St."

"The 2 legacy companies are functioning as one, and the excitement and the focus demonstrated by our employees has enabled the Flexibles business to simultaneously grow organically and to surpass the synergy targets we originally set for the first 6 months of the year. — CEO Delia Conf Call Feb 11, 2020"

"On March 31, 2015, we completed the acquisition of scil animal care company GmbH ("scil"), a specialty distributor of animal health laboeatory and imaging diagnostic products and services to veterinarians primarily in North America and Europe. scil had annual sales in 2014 of approximately $83 million."

"a lot of centers are using it...the livers are fatty, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes...the livers get replaced with fat...if it stays greater than 20% fat...then the liver doesn't tolerate the transplant very well. — Transplant surgeon and surgical director at a high-volume academic center in Utah"

"“Yeah. There were. At least insulin resistance markers and some of the DEXA scans for body mass, etc., that were collected. And not, I think, because the results were inconclusive or didn't support the final conclusion. They weren't included.” — Ex-Soleno employee #1, key role in clinical trial program"

""The $16 billion GTV number is a PR number. That is anything that is going through Lightspeed. It could be their own payments, integrated payments, residual payments. This is the volume that looks like its being processed, there's no way to say there's money backed up behind it." — Former LSPD Employee"

"“assessed acute arterial hypertension as serious and the causality with pitolisant as possibly related”; “although the event is confounded by methylphenidate, for which increased blood pressure is labeled, an association with (b)(6) cannot be ruled out and is assessed as possible.” — Physician reporter"

"$LSPD is in fake it ‘til you make it mode, where they are cobbling together cruddy & extremely inferior solutions, hiding behind M&A that looks ok to investors FOR NOW. Not 1 investor can show me 10 of their e-comm sites that are fast, awesome looking, & brands everyone knows. — Tall Seller @TallSeller"

"The fan blade, developed with Alcoa, is made of aluminium-lithium alloy and tipped with titanium on the leading edge. Efforts to speed up blade manufacturing have taken longer than expected, leaving Pratt with fewer units than it expected by now, according to people familiar with the process. — Reuters"

"Our headquarters in Hong Kong is located at AGBA Tower, 68 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, which is situated in one of Hong Kong's prime central business districts. We also owned an office premises located at One Island South, No. 2 Heung Yip Road, Hong Kong for rental purpose. — AGBA's recent 10-K"

"Despite our extensive history and unwavering commitment to environmental and social causes, we have no doubt that any party lacking knowledge of the facts, acting superficially, solely in its self-interest, or in complete bad faith, could easily argue that advocating for BP to increase its oil and gas"

"They state they are “disturbed” by the “hype”; label it a “quantum Ponzi scheme” to “lure unsuspecting investors” with “fake science”; “a bubble” which may “crash” and take “legitimate” research “down with it”; “crazy headlines” and “false expectations” that are “not based on any research or reality”."

"Independent Board representatives that will: Run a process to hire the best CEO and executive team, Set proper performance targets and incentivize and compensate management appropriately, Monitor and review the performance & strategy of the new leadership team, Hold the new leadership team accountable"

"Twist’s entire product line as a commodity – whether single stranded NGS or double stranded constructs – that suffers from numerous flaws regarding quality, quantity, consistency, mutations, sequence length, and other problems that create “substantial headache” and “substantial expense” for customers."

"By closely examining the composition of WD-40's inventory accounts, we observe that Finished Goods make up an increasing percentage of the overall balance, and more than prior to entering the last crisis. In our opinion, this suggests that inventory is building up and not selling-through to customers."