Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"Executive indicated the paltry amounts of related-party revenue Ginkgo discloses from Synlogic does not square with the level of spending Synlogic is actually doing under the agreement"

"if Genomatica had to pay cash for Ginkgo’s R&D services, they would not do so – all but giving away the heart of the scam, that related-party “customers” are engaging in kabuki theater"

"The individual stated that Tantu “doesn’t have money to pay” Ginkgo for R&D services, so “the deal ended up being like a deferred loan, essentially, for the work they are going to do.”"

"We observe inventory purchase obligations as a percentage of revenue increasing. This further strengthens our belief that inventory is building up and not selling-through to customers."

"PHILLIPS 66’S CLAIMS OF SYNERGIES ACROSS THE COMPANY ARE 1) NOT ACTUAL SYNERGIES, 2) NORMAL COURSE FOR REFINING COMPETITORS AND 3) COULD BE REPLICATED THROUGH CONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENTS."

"Spruce Point has a strong track record of exposing highly promoted industrial roll-ups and packaging companies before investors figure out that the businesses had inflected negatively."

"LHCG disclosures regarding inorganic sales contributions from acquisitions seem to imply that Almost Family is not generating nearly the level of revenue that management first forecast"

"By writing down AFAM's tangible asset value and consistently booking inordinate acquisition-related expenses, LHCG management has wiped out nearly 15% of the paper value of the merger."

"ELLIOTT STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION."

"By Aerojet's own admission, backlog convertible to sales over the next 12 months is a leading indicator. Investors should, therefore, be cautioned that the metric closed 2018 at a low."

"If Kao focused on its Cosmetics and Health & Beauty Segments and improved marketing, Oasis believes its stock price would exceed JPY10,000 per share, a +76% upside from current levels."

"Despite attractive assets, Phillips' inefficient conglomerate structure means it trades near the multiple of its lowest-valued segments and at a discount to its sum-of-the-parts value."

"Independent analysis suggests that the U.S.'s $100 billion home-sale commission TAM could be reduced by as much as 30%-50% due to changes that will likely be brought on by the verdict."

"Flying in nonlocal teams "frequently" from other states, even when the donor and recipient are both in the same state and the entire process could be handled entirely by the local team"

"The Transformation Committee's purpose is to: Make use of Board members' prior experience with corporate transformation (railroad and otherwise) to advise, guide, and coach management."

"Given the substantial percentage of ad slots on Patch that we believe are sold at steep discounts to rate card pricing, we would also question whether national advertisers value Patch."

"Does DOL – a value retailer demonstrating concerning fundamental trends – deserve to be valued on par with higher-growth industries, and completely out of line with its industry peers?"

"Based on current implied run rate revenues of $297m, we estimate Leidos has paid 3.4x sales, or a substantial premium to benchmark deals in the airport security and detection industry."

"Moreover, this investigator comments cast grave doubt on the validity of the withdrawal study, which showed an abrupt spike in HQ-CT scores in the placebo group for such a “slow drug.”"

"ANTA has clearly lied in a material – and egregious – manner. Because of its control over its Tier 1 distributors’ finance departments, investors cannot rely on the ANTA brand numbers."

"Insiders appear attuned to what's happening at the Company. Insider ownership has been in rapid decline post-IPO, in part from both insider selling and stock dilution for acquisitions."

"Spruce Point questions why would Lightspeed hire Nussey, an executive who went through a financial scandal and turnaround experience, to lead it through an IPO into the public markets?"

"Herbalife in China operates as it does in the rest of the world — as a pyramid scheme — violating the Direct-Sales Regulations, Pyramid Sales Regulations and the Criminal Law in China."

"The purpose of adjustments to the final year is to reflect how the business will grow into perpetuity might be different from what the business looks like at the end of the final year."

"Management revised unit costs four times in 2023. Poor execution has substantially eroded management's credibility and damaged Southwest’s competitive positioning as a low-cost carrier"

"This disclosure shows Oxford Ionics knew they were going to get to the second round (receiving a total of $6 million) by July 2025, and they may have even known informally before then."

"We believe MDLZ’s enormous efficiency opportunity exists because MDLZ was created through a series of acquisitions made by legacy Kraft that were never properly optimized or integrated"

"In this report, we will detail our analysis of the available information and the reasons why believe that GSX is what most companies that are too good to be true end up being: a fraud."

"The Lasertec machine’s throughput is so low that it can only inspect “five pieces per day” – referring to masks – while TSMC’s 5nm Fab 18 needs 550 masks inspected daily in production."

"Since 2007, DSP has spent over $557 million, or $26.65 per share (vs. current price of $8.03), on R&D and acquisitions, yet revenue has declined by approximately 35% during this period"

"Fairness Opinions are valuation analyses that can be tailored considerably for a client by cherry-picking EBITDA figures, multiples and comparable figures to obtain the desired effect."

"We believe that the issuance of the 2039 bonds established a favorable benchmark spread which will assist PSH over time in refinancing, and/or extending the maturity of the 2022 bonds"

"Despite saying that contingent consideration was reduced by $4 million related to Base Commerce, Nuvei has reported two other different remeasurement amounts in the MD&A for YTD 2021."

"Beyond these survey results, we believe a sampling of the Glassdoor reviews from anonymous employees of LivePerson provides ample evidence of the severe issues with corporate culture."

"We Believe Current GFL Investors Are Left “Betting” On The Uncertain Outcome Of These Three Things, Yet Most Sell-Side Analysts Have Already Given GFL Credit For Successful Completion"

"How did the Board allow Mr. Austrian to be one of four members on the CEO search committee to oversee the search process when he, himself, was being considered as part of the process?"

"As a self-proclaimed authority on business ethics, how can you sit on a Board with Cole and MacLellan, and allow Scott Jolcover to consult with Comstock Mining – a competitive entity?"

"Because AMT books these loan repayments (i.e. return legs of financial round trips) as rent revenue, the repayments artificially inflate AMT’s revenue, gross profit, EBITDA, and AFFO."

"From the above table, Bohu has made three prepayments to TRE's subsidiaries totaling RMB 105 million. This flow of funds contradicts the disclosed nature of the parties' relationship."

"Even more concerning, this pattern of missing expectations has come during a time when almost every other semiconductor company has repeatedly beaten expectations and raised guidance."

"With multiple Buy/Hold ratings and only one Sell recommendation, we believe the market is overlooking the most critical and material risks to Canadian Tire’s business and share price."

"We believe that if the business is properly managed over this period, you should easily be able to achieve approximately $4.00 per share of Adjusted Free Cash Flow by the end of 2020."

"Given the significant overlap of executives between Piedmont Lithium and IperionX, we do not find it surprising that the pitch to investors is nearly identical between both companies."

"In another departure from conventional wisdom, Singleton eschewed reported earnings, the key metric on Wall Street at the time, running his company instead to optimize free cash flow."

"3G has achieved extraordinary success in various businesses by implementing a culture of efficiency, cost discipline, zero-based budgeting, and shareholder-oriented capital allocation"

"We believe overreliance on revenue without minimum profitability threshold misaligns executives with shareholders and allows for manipulation (e.g., acquisitions or agency transition)"

"Shareholders can hold McDonald's accountable and inject much-needed ESG expertise and experience in the boardroom by voting on the GOLD proxy card to elect our two director candidates"

"Beyond these survey results, we believe a sampling of the Glassdoor reviews from anonymous employees of LivePerson provides ample evidence of the severe issues with corporate culture:"

"We believe the law is very clear: operators of K-12 software platforms are PROHIBITED from using information gathered on their platform to build profiles on or target ads to students."

"Assuming clean energy regulations get implemented, the EIA expects Appalachian coal demand to decline nearly 35% over the next 10 years until it stabilizes at around 110 million tons."

"With some orthodontists perhaps not interested in offering clear aligner treatment (at least in high volume), how much runway really remains in the North American orthodontic channel?"

"Company-owned German and Austrian retail business under the JET logo is currently being marketed at a “potential value of $3bn assuming a 10x multiple” according to sellside estimates"

"“Quanzhou Binhui” is yet another example of ANTA transferring ownership of a significant distributor from a disclosed related party to a proxy, and later to an employee of the ListCo."

"Affirming that the appointment of the Chair is discretionary - as BlackRock does in its Bylaws - ultimately implies considering the effective functioning of the Board as discretionary"

"We struggle to understand how job titles like “Operational Excellence System Analyst,” “Systems Engineer,” or “Automation Service Engineer” can be classified under the R&D department."

"I think you're a smart guy. You figure it out. I just really don't want to go on that topic, because even within Twist, [redacted] was not allowed to talk about it to other employees."

"Employee feedback repeatedly emphasizes a culture of bureaucracy, lifetime employment, stifled creativity, out-of-touch leadership, lack of business integration and poor communication"

"Retailers with successful concepts are acquiring leases from liquidating retailers, allowing malls to refresh their product offerings with concepts that should drive increased traffic"

"Investors should be very concerned that a clawback for financial misstatement was adopted right before its stock price increased, allowing the Company to raise nearly $350m of equity."

"On average, value has been destroyed in each of the five previous largest pharmaceutical deals on an absolute basis in the five years following the completion of each respective deal."