Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"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."

"A premium/discount price distortion frequently occurs between the shares of Plc and the shares of Ltd. Since the DLC merger in 2001, Plc has traded at an average 12.7% discount to Ltd"

"We see $19bn of trapped value relative to sum-of-the-parts value of its assets and another $7bn of value from improved operations and additional value from the sale of non-core assets"

"It seems clear to us that the current Board is laden with significant interconnections among directors that have created an insular boardroom environment that lacks true independence."

"We find Globant's insider reporting methods to be deceiving as we are unsure why Globant would now file insider sales electronically with the Luxembourg exchange and not with the SEC."

"Given limited transparency and public disclosure on Disney's organizational structure, it is impossible to fully understand how best to improve the current structure from the outside."

"While Disney has blamed the pandemic for poor film quality and results, its competitors managed to release some of the most successful animated films of all-time within the last year."

"TWC's OIBDA margin is projected to improve from 37.6% in 2006 pro forma for the Adelphia/Comcast transactions to 39.2% in 2009 as the Adelphia systems are integrated to TWC standards."

"DV gave conflicting statements saying 26% (year end conf call) and 20% (Analyst Day and Needham conf). However, to match its claimed ~70% total annual growth, the result had to be 20%"

"Beijing Mushang Culture Media Ltd is officially recognized as a top 5 agency by Momo, but you wouldn't know this by reading its financial filings or listening to its conference calls."

"Spruce Point believes that anyone holding, or considering, an investment in Momo must get comfortable with the risks and unknown ramifications associated with the following red flags."

"2017 was a significant year for the MOC and SARFT in terms of establishing live streaming guidelines. However, it appears enforcement activity has escalated significantly in mid 2018."

"The group’s heavy use of militaristic symbols such as the sword symbol, the chevron symbol, or the ARMY black and gold colors may engender a sense of fear among Elite Circle recruits."

"John Tartol, Chairman’s Club member and an Herbalife director, stated in an Herbalife newsletter that Distributors today could make it to the President’s Team in less than three years"

"After reporting a solid first quarter in April 2017, PPG reported a significant top-line miss in Q2, suggesting that management was completely distracted by the Akzo takeover attempts"

"The dealer wins when CACC wins. That alignment of incentive creates switching costs that no competitor — not Carvana, not DriveTime, not Capital One Auto — has been able to replicate."

"We see $19bn of trapped value relative to sum-of-the-parts value of its assets and another $7bn of value from improved operations and additional value from the sale of non-core assets"

"Much like Philidor did to Valeant, this could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back as regulators are finally able to take action against the company’s infamous billing practices."

"Similarweb engagement data for Credit Karma tells a consistently negative story, as the sum of US website visits and mobile app MAUs have shown weak trends for the past year and half."

"We believe the Board's choice of the S&P 600 as the Company's reference index may have been primarily driven by its underperformance relative to all other relevant comparable indices."

"Had IQ actually committed to contribute RMB 796 million, then Xin'ai's current assets should be increased by approximately RMB 757.75 million and recorded as APIC – which it does not."

"We believe BR is a misunderstood company that has a mediocre and capital-intensive business process outsourcing business involving distribution of proxies and investor communications."

"Yahoo should still milk its PC-based revenues... for as long as it can; just as Tim Armstrong milked AOL's dial-up; but this should be done with the bare minimum of headcount required"

"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"

"The South32 demerger is a clear precedent for success. Management should embrace this next and natural “simplification” of BHP via a full or partial demerger of the petroleum business"

"In conclusion, we believe eBay is deeply undervalued, with opportunities to create significant value for shareholders that are directly within the control of management and the Board."

"If credit markets tightened or investors began to question Olam’s viability as a business (which we think is long overdue), a significant change in interest rates could wipe out Olam."

"I think Dlocal has a stronger, sales team, but they, they don't really look into profitability. You're only looking into TPV growth. And, um, and that's why their margins are thinner."

"According to two former executives, DLO's relationship with Google started out operating at a loss, and later was running on wafer thin net margins of just a few basis points at best."

"Independent evidence and field work (including agent interviews) strongly suggests that BEKE's realized commission rates are meaningfully lower than the figures reported to investors."

"Using Target’s ’09 P/E multiple of 11.8x (based on $40/share), the incremental earnings accretion from this Transaction creates $7 per share of value ignoring other valuation benefits"

"After reasonable inquiry and to the best of his knowledge and belief, each of the undersigned certifies that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct."

"We find this particularly audacious and preposterous, as Kalo was only formed 2 weeks earlier as an entity, according to its Massachusetts corporate registry filing (shown on p. ___)."

"Ex-employees demystified the “Foundry” hype as little more than miniaturization of well plates, using liquid handling machines from the same suppliers Zymergen and everyone else uses."

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

"When Apple announced HealthKit last summer, its key partner in giving patients access to their records on their mobile device turned out to be Epic – the dinosaur is now in the cloud."

"We strongly believe that Elliott and Commvault can work together collaboratively to implement these recommendations and we are eager to sit down in person to discuss the path forward."

"After achieving significant adoption among UHC customers, Naviguard intends to roll out its services broadly to other insurers. Such a move endangers the remainder of MPLN's revenues."

"If a firm with Deloitte's resources makes mistakes of this magnitude, it is surely evidence of considerable audit risk, confusion in the accounts, and possible financial manipulation."

"Kao has not taken price in Health & Beauty and Cosmetics despite these segments constituting over half of Consumer Products sales combined and with the best overseas growth potential."

"Apple is not appropriately capitalized. It is not minimizing its cost of capital. This is one reason why we believe Apple’s shares trade at a valuation well below its intrinsic value."

"While Disney has blamed the pandemic for poor film quality and results, its competitors managed to release some of the most successful animated films of all-time within the last year."

"NV5 was valued at 10x forward Adj. EBITDA in the deal, a roughly 50% discount to Limbach's current valuation, raising further concerns about the sustainability of Limbach's valuation."

"TransMedics is pressuring hospitals to utilize their more expensive aircraft, not only for transportation of organs, but also for the convenient movement of their staff and equipment."

"Extortion occurs through the practice of “coercive tying” where the buyer is compelled to accept the tied service to accept the tying product, leading to higher costs and less choice."

"This forces UCSD to eat the $50,000 transport cost to Seattle if the donor doesn't expire and no organ is available – pure extortion to punish TransMedics if it doesn't use their jets"

"Most organs placed on the TransMedics pump, we believe based upon research interviews, fail to meet the labeled criteria of organ viability – rendering the entire DCD use case a scam."

"Due to favourable market conditions today, we believe that interest expense savings would more than offset the additional upfront costs of redeeming or repurchasing the existing bonds"

"SBUX's share price including dividends increased 80% from our average cost at re-establishment of the position in March 2020 to December 31, 2020 and decreased 1% year-to-date in 2021"

"BRK's share price decreased 15% since inception through our share sale in May 2020. We made the decision to sell the position to deploy the capital into more opportunistic investments"

"While management may have largely exhausted avenues for price increases and efficiency gains, other industry and Company developments threaten to drive up costs through the near term."

"How did IRBT boost its market share in Asia while finally acknowledging ECOVACS, China’s largest player? How will iRobot succeed in a market where it doesn’t have a natural advantage?"

"the biggest threat to the company is that doctors are going to figure out that you can just prescribe generic diazoxide oral suspension off-label without all the problems of a tablet."

"The ex-employee stated that GLP-1’s have already made Vykat irrelevant and erased its commercial opportunity, indicating that half of PWS physicians are already trying to use GLP-1’s."

"Our investigators visited 28 Fila stores throughout Beijing. Of these, only eleven displayed business licenses. All eleven were either Ding Dong (Beijing) or Beijing Jiyuan Ding Dong."

"Lightspeed has all the elements of a stock promotion. The sell-side analysts are resoundingly bullish with 76% giving the Company the equivalent of a “Buy”, 12% “Hold” and 12% “Sell”."

"To make FIGS LTM Gross Margin more comparable with peers, we deduct “Selling Expenses”. By our estimate, FIGS’ LTM Gross Margin is inflated by 2,040 basis points, from 50.7% to 71.0%."

"The press release for Ginkgo’s Antheia partnership on Aug 12, 2021 makes no mention of the fact that Viking led Antheia’s $73MM financing a few weeks prior to the Ginkgo announcement."

"In nearly every prior campaign, AOC pushed for capital raises, board overhauls, or operational restructurings, only to see target companies underperform and shareholders disappointed."

"In fact, GSX and its platform Gaotu have consistently been underperforming its major competitors ever since 2018. However, its stock performance has been steadily outpacing its peers."