Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"What they did was use an optical tool from KLA – the Teron product line. And this is an optical tool with a 193-nanometer light source. So, there's a limitation to what defects it can detect."

"The IR Rep laughed that Lasertec has needed to rent space 'all over the map' to store tools before final tweaking and shipment. He says that Fab-4A has been useful in relieving that pressure."

"If current 2024 consensus estimates prove to be accurate, this would mean that GoDaddy missed its implied 2024 targets from the Investor Day by over $500 million in revenue, over $100 million"

"Despite a stellar 2019, we believe Chipotle still has significant unrealized growth potential, with average restaurant sales still 12% below peak levels and margins ~700bps below peak levels"

"Our progress is partially reflected in 16% appreciation from March 31, 2016 through year end, but more significantly in the business progress and developments in the balance of the portfolio"

"The non-arm's length transactions of Tony Thompsons' (wholly owned companies) with both Grubb & Ellis and Triple Net Properties illustrate the deep inner workings between Thompson and Peters"

"Despite our clear concerns and evidence that Avery is under increasing pressure, its one year forward EBITDA and EPS multiples have expanded over the past decade and are near all-time highs."

"Given the multitude of lavish properties that CEO Dovigi owns, we find it unusual that GFL leases a mansion from Daryl Goodwin, a current employee and seller of Enviro-Smart Organics to GFL."

"A significant increase in unprofitable flying driven by a growth strategy focused on capacity expansion (rather than product innovation) appears to have driven substantial unnecessary losses"

"Only 11 months ago, management said it was “absolutely committed” to driving unit costs down in 2024. Today, management is guiding to a 7-8% increase, representing $1.7B of incremental costs"

"Elliott Investment Management, one of Southwest Airline's largest shareholders, believes that Southwest represents the most compelling airline turnaround opportunity in the last two decades."

"Spruce Point finds it alarming that WTRG's CEO recently referenced his ability to never disappoint Wall Street, but dropped glaring hints that suggest disappointment could be on the horizon."

"Providing water services and issuing billing statements should be a straightforward business, yet WTRG appears to elicit strong and negative feedback from customers across a range of issues."

"Spruce Point finds it alarming that WTRG's CEO recently referenced his ability to never disappoint Wall Street, but dropped glaring hints that suggest disappointment could be on the horizon."

"In total, we believe our plan for Office Depot will improve operating margins from 0.9% to 7.3%, while providing Office Depot with a plan to successfully transform the future of the Company."

"If XPO didn't work with Andersen's firm to issue private placements, then it could have business dealings with Terex, where Andersen has long served as a Director according to his biography."

"We believe New TROX could easily lever up to 1.0x – 1.5x on a mid-cycle EBITDA basis and subsequently dividend the cash proceeds to shareholders while still maintaining strong credit metrics"

"I was particularly annoyed about the shameless allegation that Ströer did not have any proper corporate governance and that the supervisory board was not independent. Intolerable effrontery!"

"Per an employee LinkedIn disclosure, Microsoft is $100m of sales, which conveniently equates to ~17% of LTM sales of $606m. Ex: Microsoft sales, we estimate the consumer segment is down 53%."

"Monolithic has grown its dividend recently, but well below its potential. If you take Monolithic's financials at face value, EPS is up nearly 400% in the same period the dividend is up 166%."

"We believe our selective hedging strategy is a superior alternative to a large cash position or a continuous hedging program, both of which can be a significant drag on long-term performance"

"Coincidentally, Mercury’s CISO and CIO both left the firm in August 2018 – just before the story broke – and Mercury subsequently removed nearly all references to Supermicro from its website"

"We reiterate our calls for Eurofins to execute a limited release of its former employees from their NDAs so they may speak to investors without fear of “lawfare” (unwarranted legal attacks)."

"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"

"By reducing its asset base and returning capital to shareholders, rather than wasting shareholders’ money on excessive capex and acquisitions, Brinker has driven superior returns on capital."

"These requirements over-engineer packaging and drive up costs significantly without necessarily driving any benefit associated with more foot traffic or increased pricing power on customers."

"Goodyear’s product warranty costs are ~40% below Michelin and Bridgestone’s as a percentage of revenue, which speaks to the quality of its manufacturing assets and skill of its employee base"

"There will be pent up demand for consumers to go to the theaters after wide distribution of a vaccine and theaters are not going away overnight, but the sector is a rapidly melting ice cube."

"Third, if ambiguity still remains after applying step 2, apply the contra proferentem rule, which is Latin for “against the offeror” or in this particular case, “interpret against Manulife.”"

"The ex-employee suggested that “essentially every scientist” at IonQ opposed the announcement, and that “essentially all” of the scientists “felt extremely uncomfortable with the statement.”"

"It suggested that most or all of the company’s revenue in Q3 and for 2021 came from only 2 and 3 customers respectively – a troubling contrast to the CEO’s claim of “thousands of customers.”"

"The limitations of contact mapping also make it incapable of mapping more than one arrhythmia at a time, which makes it ill-suited to treat SVTs such as atrial flutter or atrial tachycardia."

"In sum, the feedback we received from practitioners with first-hand knowledge of AcqMap did more than confirm the impressive ablation effectiveness AcqMap enabled in the clinical literature."

"Mortgage purchase applications for new and existing homes have risen by 33% since their recent trough, with early data showing the entry level housing market generating the best performance."

"We believe Ms. Samuelrich can help drive forward McDonald's commitments to animal welfare and ESG by addressing its weak ESG framework, establishing realistic targets and verifying progress."

"For the social media platforms we can track with the Wayback Machine such as Pinterest and Twitter/X, the data provides clear evidence of rapid deceleration (and decline) of follower growth."

"Spreading out contract acquisition costs over a longer period enables the Company to present a more favorable view of earnings in periods with larger volumes of contract signings / renewals."

"These requirements over-engineer packaging and drive up costs significantly without necessarily driving any benefit associated with more foot traffic or increased pricing power on customers."

"Spruce Point is concerned that Xylem would acquire Evoqua at such a large premium given a recent SEC charge for materially misstated revenue and an ongoing federal investigation by the USAO."

"A significant increase in unprofitable flying driven by a growth strategy focused on capacity expansion (rather than product innovation) appears to have driven substantial unnecessary losses"

"Analysts expect Maxar to produce $181.3m of EBITDA in Q4'18 vs. $180.9 in Q4'17. But they do not account for the $24.6m one-time gain in their models. Maxar is set up to severely disappoint."

"In 2023, the net equity value of GSG Berlin reported by CPIPG dropped from €3.718 billion at YE22 to just €311 million at YE23 – meanwhile reported profits doubled from €163 to €338 million."

"[W]e believe BWLD company-owned stores could improve margins substantially, by up to 500 [basis points] based on our analysis, by adopting labor practices currently deployed by [franchisees]"

"Alright not only revealed a local host IP, but jumped back and forth between Chinese and Malaysian IPs three times during the period of the Chinese lockdown, indicating Alright is an FU Bot."

"GGO will have a strong balance sheet. 100% of GGO's debt is property level and non-recourse. $250mm of balance sheet cash ensures GGO has ample liquidity to fund value creation opportunities"

"For brevity, we note that iRhythm’s initial responses (including that the transmission limit was a “design limitation” rather than a “nonconformance”) were both deemed inadequate by the FDA."

"In August 2024, the Board approved two acquisitions for a total consideration of $69 million, taking net leverage to where it was prior to the dilutive equity offering from earlier this year"

"Warning: By structuring the purchase the way it chose, Oatly could potentially be misallocating the purchase price to areas such as land (which is not depreciated) and building and fixtures."

"Investors are high on oat milk if they truly believe Oatly stands a long-term chance of maintaining a competitive edge in a category that Spruce Point believes is becoming rapidly saturated."

"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."

"Elliott Investment Management, one of Southwest Airline's largest shareholders, believes that Southwest represents the most compelling airline turnaround opportunity in the last two decades."

"Elliott Investment Management, one of Southwest Airline's largest shareholders, believes that Southwest represents the most compelling airline turnaround opportunity in the last two decades."

"Elliott Investment Management, one of Southwest Airline's largest shareholders, believes that Southwest represents the most compelling airline turnaround opportunity in the last two decades."

"By reclassifying WSP's net financing expense as an operational cash flow as opposed to a financing cash flow, we find that the Company's operating cash flow margin lags the industry average."

"The market is expecting sequential revenue growth of 12.3% in Q1 2021, and increasing in each subsequent quarter to 23.4% in Q4 2021, for total YoY revenue growth of 62.7% in full-year 2021."

"Twist has a minimum order size that’s a fraction of the competition’s yet its pricing doesn’t reflect the radically higher cost of the customization and lack of standardization in its orders"

"they screen for high GC or low GC content sequences and high complexity sequences, and then they tell a customer we're not even going to try these. We know that our process can't make these."

"greater than $700 million of shareholder value, representing approximately 50% of today's market capitalization, has been destroyed since 2013 against the backdrop of a flourishing industry."

"Our progress is partially reflected in 16% appreciation from March 31, 2016 through year end, but more significantly in the business progress and developments in the balance of the portfolio"

"I’d especially highlight Puerto Rican debt, which AGO says is rated CCC or CC depending on the issue, even though Puerto Rico defaulted last year and S&P and Moody’s show much lower ratings."