Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"As audiences continue to migrate from traditional networks to cable networks, advertisers will place more emphasis on cable network advertising to reach their desired audience."

"Competitors such as Starz! compare unfavorably to HBO due to their lack of compelling original programming, smaller and less established subscriber base and weak pricing power."

"Spruce Point was shocked to learn that Chief Accounting Officer Katz has been selling stock in an oblique manner through filing FORM 144s that do not appear on the SEC website."

"Upwork is now at a crossroads. The Board needs to rapidly make important changes to give Upwork a chance at succeeding – or the platform risks becoming increasingly irrelevant."

"Allowing Mr. Lashier to consolidate control over the Company's governance has hindered our ability to work constructively with Phillips 66 to improve the Company's performance."

"BIO gives clear guidance that it only capitalizes costs up to implementation, whereas Mettler has not, and continues to aggressively capitalize costs into software within PP&E."

"Commentary from the Q3'17 earnings conference call in Nov 2017 about the acquisition of Biotix illustrates it produced $35m and was growing 10%-12% according to the former CFO."

"Current pay limits lead to high leadership turnover, with Fannie averaging a new CEO every three years and Freddie every two years since conservatorship began in September 2008"

"Spruce Point believes that Hill-Rom's underlying sales growth has been effectively flat at best, versus management's reported "core growth" of 2%-6% through the past two years."

"INSTEAD, management proposed what appears to be a hurried, reactive attempt, in the face of shareholder pressure, to cast off the weight of the struggling Red Lobster business."

"Therefore, we conclude that IQ simply made up this non-cash contribution to add RMB 757.75 million of fraudulent deferred revenue which management uses to inflate its revenues."

"Sell-side analysts have eaten up INGN management’s COPD narrative along with the other fairytales, penning bullish reports touting the “Robust, Long-Tailed Sales Growth Story”."

"Notice carefully that BR made a large and material change to its description of “critical communications” handled annually. The number dropped from “6 billion” to “>2 billion”."

"Technology is nothing special; just an expensive mash-up of cheap, lab tools like flow cytometers and fluidics; dismissed it as a glorified cytometer, which sell for $50-$500K."

"Expert is now at a mid-tier CDMO; would never use the BLI instrument after his Novartis experience; doing so would put the CDMO's reputation and the work of its clients at risk"

"Lasertec’s largest customers – notably TSMC, Intel, and Samsung, which are 77% of its revenue – are struggling, exasperated, and/or furious with its EUV mask inspection system."

"When our investigators spoke to teachers present during the period of purported disposal, none thought that the GZ 1-1 or the “Aizhikang” business was acquired by Changing Edu."

"After more than eleven months of a Strategic Review process, we believe management and the Board must drive the process to conclusion and commit to a separation of Classifieds."

"Willis Lease Finance (WLFC US) states explicitly the way residual value is calculated, giving quantitative data instead of a vague “estimated fair value of life limited parts.”"

"our work has corroborated the existence of deferred tax assets (in addition to the inherited carry forward) which should enable ADT to preserve a low cash tax rate for 6+ years"

"Atrasentan’s direct effect on rates of advancement to end-stage kidney disease, as the below table taken from the SONAR analysis shows, does not reach statistical significance."

"The fertility technology that once constituted part of PGNY was divested in early 2018, and the vast majority of senior management came from internet advertising company WebMD."

"The three most recent beats (and six times in PGNY's public history) relied on revenue recognized from increased unbilled A/R in order to surpass Wall Street revenue estimates."

"When a Company publishes a separate presentation to explain what exactly is going on with cash flow from operations, it is likely in response to investor concerns or confusion."

"On April 1, 2024, Autodesk announced the Audit Committee of the Board was conducting an investigation into the Company’s free cash flow and non-GAAP operating margin practices."

"Compared to their generic peers such as Equate, CVS and Walgreens, we believe PBH’s products have no competitive advantage, limited barriers to entry and are at a disadvantage."

"We believe PBH's executive compensation plan does not align management's interests with the Company's top priorities of 1) long-term 2-3% organic growth and 2) cash generation."

"Cintas needs to conduct a fully independent, and audited review of its Fire Protection Services workforce to make sure it is conducting its business in compliance with the law."

"Less than two months before the scil transaction was announced, Heska told investors that it was targeting 2022 gross margins of 49.5%. The current plan is 42% at the midpoint."

"We believe that Nevro’s business hinges on kickbacks to high-volume implanters, who otherwise would have stopped using its HF10 technology due to lack of efficacy and explants."

"CLEAR's bottleneck at the airports exist because of the TSA directives but also due in part from non-paying frequent flyers and low paying Amex members clogging up CLEAR lanes."

"Without validation of ROVI’s strategy and strengthened oversight by new and independent directors, shareholders risk being set up for yet another costly round of disappointment"

"With these facts in mind, we respectfully ask BP's collective Board of Directors to: Answer, without further delay, the thirty-six questions which were refused at the 2024 AGM."

"That seems to us like a harsh repudiation of Red Cat and its management team, and a vote of no-confidence in the ability of the company to achieve what management says it will."

"Current pay limits lead to high leadership turnover, with Fannie averaging a new CEO every three years and Freddie every two years since conservatorship began in September 2008"

"Phillips' 2024 refining EBITDA per barrel has trailed best-in-class peer Valero by $3.75 per barrel, widening to a $4.75 per barrel shortfall in the most recent fourth quarter."

"Heim's executive background in midstream operations and experience in the energy industry and serving on public boards would make him a valuable addition to the Phillips Board."

"In collaboration with other board members, Trian’s nominees will seek to craft a compensation program that better aligns management compensation with stockholder value creation"

"Despite the same claims being made to try to prevent shareholder-driven change, CP's new board and management team improved performance and achieved a superior operating ratio."

"However, the core of his qualification for the Board is that, at his most fundamental, Mr. Kasich is a force for organizational change to structurally correct underperformance."

"In its 12 month pilot study, LivaNova’s patients saw a mean reduction in AHI of 53% after 12 months and a mean ODI reduction of around 50% - almost exactly the same as Inspire."

"Not only do we have serious concerns about the independence of AOL's Board, but AOL's "independent" Board members have little vested interest in the performance of the Company."

"Leading proxy governance firms have also raised serious concern about compensation practices at Motorola, during Mr. Stengel’s tenure as a member of its compensation committee."

"Unfortunately, in less than two years, Newell’s management team has made critical missteps in integrating and operating the businesses, resulting in poor financial performance."

"Matt’s experience, expertise, and familiarity with SandRidge and its assets will be integral to our outreach and the execution of next steps after the company's annual meeting."

"Compared Vykat to the Aduhelm debacle as taking on a tremendous risk for dubious benefit, and concurred when we asked why anyone would prescribe the drug vs. generic diazoxide."

"Historically, the CEO has not been held to stringent financial performance. In FY 2020, only 25% of his short-term incentive compensation was linked to "fiscal responsibility"."

"The vertical axis shows adverse events per million daily doses sold, which we shall next calculate for pitolisant to demonstrate its danger vs. both terfenadine and astemizole."

"there are far better H3 antagonists out there if this works. So, if an H3 antagonist works with Prader-Willi, then there are better compounds out there that are probably safer."

"We believe that these material undisclosed related party transactions cast doubt on the integrity of INS’s financial statements. Accordingly, we assign INS a price target of $5"

"Realizing that AXDX struggles to break $10M two years after a full commercial launch, one would value AXDX as a $65M market cap business, a 95% drop from its current valuation."

"Management is spinning the planned $9-$12 million in capex as some massive opportunity to drive new NOI. Maybe it will, but this does not appear to have been the original plan."

"A visual representation of inventory as percent of revenue versus the five largest semicap equipment companies makes clear how unusual Lasertec’s reported inventory balance is."

"We believe a multiple re-rating is warranted given the tectonic shift in the competitive landscape. DKNG has previously traded as low as 1.7x revenues in late 2022 / early 2023"

"MIX OF OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT, PORTFOLIO MGMT, AND BALANCE SHEET OPTIMIZATION PROVIDE MULTIPLE PATHS TO DOUBLE EPS BY 2022 AND CREATE SUSTAINABLY BETTER PERFORMANCE OVER TIME"

"We find that Remitly’s competitors are advertising so aggressively on the app stores, that when searching for “Remitly” both Ria and Western Union are prioritized ahead of it."

"Remitly recently ceased disclosing mobile wallets by lumping them together with bank accounts. Yet, it also says that mobile wallets are a key determinant of transaction fees."

"We believe our improved recent performance is a direct result of our renewed focus on our core investment strategy and organizational changes we implemented at Pershing Square"

"These documents plainly show Defendants had direct knowledge that TelexFree was a Ponzi scheme, and yet, continued to service the illicit enterprise until at least March 2014."

"Using an appropriate mix of debt and equity as well as growing cash flow from their franchise operations, they have paid out 210% of their cumulative Free Cash Flow since IPO."