Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"We wonder why there was not a more thorough housecleaning; and, we wonder whether those who escaped relatively unscathed took away the wrong lessons from the episode."

"According to the CDC, US men have a 74.8-year life expectancy. Thus, 3 to 5-year retreatment horizons obviate durability concerns for the average 71-year-old patient."

"The implied value of Crown Castle’s fiber business is only $11B versus its cumulative investment of $16B, resulting in $5B of value destruction over the last 5+ years"

"From reviewing TRE and the “Agent’s” annual inspection and audit reports from the SAIC files, it seems that the agents mainly serve as a tunnel to move money for TRE."

"So, please be so kind as to tell us: What were the five largest loss-makers in our company? And at the same time, please also tell us the five largest profit earners."

"Spruce Point believes that the diverging fortunes between Dycom and its telecom and media clients which constitute 90%+ of contract revenues is not likely to persist."

"Shareholders should vote AGAINST the proposed Fuji/Xerox transaction and FOR a new board of directors that can drive much needed change and maximize shareholder value"

"However, PetIQ contributes less than one tenth of 1% of sales to R&D, on which it spent as little as $33,000 in Q3 FY18 - down close to 80% since the time of the IPO."

"Fast forward to today, IPX no longer discusses its relationship with Chemours, and it made its last disclosure of the relationship in the 20-F filed October 30, 2024."

"Target’s board lacks significant shareholder representation, owning less than 0.3% of the company. Independent directors own only 0.02% of the company in common stock"

"To repeat: A useful quantum computer needs to process a set of continuous parameters that is larger than the number of subatomic particles in the observable universe."

"Abbott's share of the U.S. CGM market has already surpassed that of Dexcom and all other players after just one year of sales – even before the release of the Libre 2"

"Note that our estimated downside to patient growth could be conservative given Dexcom customers' price sensitivity and propensity to switch as revealed by our survey."

"The goals are more rigorous than PSU program because Shareholder Nominee is only paid if outperform peer group and payment commensurate with amount of outperformance."

"The last time that Viacom was involved in gaming was when Redstone invested in Midway Games (owner of Mortal Kombat franchise) last decade; he eventually wrote it off"

"The insinuation that IAA's yards are currently over utilized relative to Copart is wildly inaccurate considering the share shift of GEICO over the past several years."

"An ESG framework that focuses on advancing capabilities for McDonald’s’ key ESG factors will help the Company rebuild trust with shareholders, customers and employees"

"An ESG framework that focuses on advancing capabilities for McDonald’s’ key ESG factors will help the Company rebuild trust with shareholders, customers and employees"

"While we acknowledge that Purity could theoretically slot into a hyperscaler technology stack with relative ease, the capabilities provided are narrow and replicable."

"If were talking about an American western store – Boot Barn – how American can you get with that name, Boot friggin Barn, and its mostly made in China, absolute joke."

"The net effect of these two impacts brings PowerSchool's adjusted leverage to 5.8x – a standout in the ed-tech industry where many companies have a net cash position."

"Capitalized cash costs are conveniently added-back to both Adj. EBITDA and Non-GAAP EPS. Capitalized software development costs were nearly 18x PP&E Purchases in 2023"

"A more realistic assessment of potential earnings is closer to $3.50 than $9.00 and at that point GMCR should garner a market multiple rather than a premium valuation"

"DigitalGlobe carried just $74m of intangible assets, but Maxar believes C$1.3 billion of deal value exists here at the expense of its physical satellite constellation"

"Arconic's own filings list 2008 EPS margins as 19.2%. Only by including discontinued operations can the company show material "improvement" since the financial crisis"

"AMR has a history of shifting freight and handling revenues among segments. Without explanation, all of this revenue was allocated to its Trading & Logistics segment."

"The Board's actions have been designed to favor and protect the trustees at the expense of shareholders, much like how the Board rejected the cash-rich premium offer."

"The takeaway is that this Board cannot be trusted to act in the best interests of shareholders – let alone handle the most critical decision facing the Company today."

"We calculate that NMC Royal Women's, on the other hand, cost $7,700 per square meter. This is more than double the average cost of the group of hospitals we examined."

"Warning: By Oatly's own admission, it manufactures "oat base" which is turned into a final product. However, its current accounting does not track "work in progress"."

"For far too long, Darden shareholders have suffered mightily under the failed leadership of a Board that has blatantly disregarded the best interests of shareholders."

"Spruce Point believes WSP’s sell-side promoters are taking management’s results at face value and not critically evaluating the results with greater analytical rigor."

"This Management team has responded to its challenges with a victim mentality – blaming the external environment while failing to control expenses or hold market share"

"However, we view that any flowback would be almost entirely offset by inflows from ASX index replicating funds, superannuation funds and other Australian institutions"

"The Board decided to spend an estimated $100mm+ of shareholder money engaging in a proxy contest, while 8 out of 11 Directors have not even met Nelson Peltz in person"

"With half of revenue from cost-plus contracts, pre-corporate EBIT margins in GY's aerospace segment have consistently been between 9.8% and 11.7% for the past 8 years"

"Management has shown limited ability to forecast its business accurately in the past few years. This gives us little confidence in trusting their longer term outlook."

"The Hong Kong Dollar’s (HKD) peg to the U.S. Dollar (USD) forces Hong Kong to import the U.S.’s ultra-accommodative monetary policy, despite its much stronger economy"

"As of the time and date of this report, Muddy Waters (defined below) is short the securities of, or derivatives linked to, e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (the “Covered Issuer”)."

"Ro has grown unique visitors faster than HIMS in 8 of the last 10 quarters and, since April 2022, has growth monthly unique visitors at almost twice the rate of HIMS."

"FND recently omitted its discussion about its “Extensive Service Offerings to Enhance the Pro Customer Experience” and slightly revised its pro / homeowner sales mix."

"Muddy Waters believes that many of the items we discuss in this report are symptomatic of a highly troubled enterprise that is run solely for the benefit of insiders."

"We conclude that FMCN unjustifiably impairs acquisitions based on our analysis of the write-downs and subsequent transfers of 10 mobile handset advertising companies."

"Given the magnitude of opportunities evident from the outside, the true value creation potential at Agrium is likely significantly larger than investors can quantify."

"This excludes the $57 billion of net capital spent on acquiring Fox in pursuit of streaming scale as well as the over $9 billion required to take full control of Hulu"

"Huntsman committed to monetizing its Venator stake for over $1.0 billion, but ultimately received less than 15% of that amount after conducting a “fire sale” in 2020."

"Huntsman committed to monetizing its Venator stake for over $1.0 billion, but ultimately received less than 15% of that amount after conducting a “fire sale” in 2020."

"However, as pricing pressures appear to have increased, we believe it is likely that DV will face downward pressures as contracts roll-off and reset to market prices."

"Spruce Point interviewed a former TASK executive who was with the Company through the company's pivotal growth years and still has a pulse into the Philippine market."

"WFG actively encourages its independent agents to develop downlines. Based on the definition provided by the FTC, we believe we can reasonably conclude WFG is an MLM."

"The most honest bear case is Hegde execution risk: if volume growth fails to materialize, this becomes a shrinking business retiring shares rather than a growing one."

"Harrison Varma worked with the Oracle Capital Group, the wealth managers for President Nazarbayev's daughter, who channeled Nazarbayev money into the Buxmead project."

"Our concerns about Mettler's financial reporting and accounting are heightened by the fact it has never reported an earnings disappointment in 44 quarters since 2008."

"「仕入れ先を1社に頼るのは危険です。顧客としては選択肢がほしい。他社がソリューションを提供してくれることを祈っています。競争はあったほうがいい。KLAからお聞きになった見通しが現実的だと思います。KLAは本気で装置を開発すると思います。装置ができたら、業界にはいい影響をもたらします。12～18ヶ月以内の実用化は現実的だと思います」"

"完成品の入出荷、あるいはゴミの持ち出し、小さな段ボールの持ち込みなどのために、Fab 4Aのドックのシャッターが週に数回開く。その都度に内部の様子を撮影することができた。これらの動きを除いて、Fab 4Aにおける活動は感知されなかった。組立、試験、生産、研究開発などの活動が行われていれば当然あるはずのヒト・モノの動きは皆無だった。"

"New Red Lobster’s valuation will be hindered by its poor performance and likely trade at one of the lowest, if not THE lowest, multiple in the casual dining industry."

"If the program “If Time Flows Back” were priced at just 2x that paid by the TV stations, DDMC’s gross margin from its TV programs in 2018 would have dropped by 34.7%:"

"Chair Colleen Moorehead and her Board’s actions indicate that they will go to great lengths to maintain power and prevent shareholders from having their voices heard."

"Lasertec's particle contamination problem makes it highly problematic for P2 mask inspection – the only step in the inspection process where its EUV tool can be used."

"Since 2002, management spent over US$8 billion on petroleum exploration – when compared to current broker valuation, this appears to have resulted in a near 100% loss"