Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"All seller-financed transactions—Onboard Trusts 1 through 8, Skyfi Trust, CSS PL 2023-1, and the Q3 and Q4 2024 “sales”—seem to fail all three ASC 860 criteria."

"Despite the recent influx of competition in the space, Align appears to continue to behave as a monopolistic player in the doctor-directed clear aligner market."

"Far from being a “structural” impediment to reaching peer margins, large structural castings are yet another missed opportunity under Dr. Kleinfeld’s leadership"

"As a result, rather than earning money from YY gifts, the Xiaozhou group of accounts paid out a net RMB 8.5 million while YY booked RMB 17.2 million of revenue."

"Based on analyst estimates for 2018 EBITDA, PAH shares would be valued at more than $19, nearly 75% above current levels, if it traded at current peer multiples"

"It will be interesting to watch the position taken by BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship team itself (“BIS”) as evidence of their credibility (or lack thereof)."

"We believe investors should have little confidence in the quality of Sunnova's inventory adjustments and presentation of financials given such frequent changes."

"Loanpal is currently lending $200M/month in residential solar loans and are already responsible for more than 30% of all new residential solar loans in the U.S."

"We believe investors should have little confidence in the quality of Sunnova's inventory adjustments and presentation of financials given such frequent changes."

"A former employee in India is acting as a whistleblower and alleging tax evasion that allowed WSP to avoid tens of millions of dollars in required tax payments."

"Whereas on the surface, WSP's 2023 operating cash flow growth was 21%, but adjusted for the interest expense misclassification, it was less spectacular at 7.4%."

"Zebra has not shown its “Spotlight on Select Adjacent and Expansion Markets” slide since August 2023 where it claimed to be a “Market leader in RFID solutions”."

"Based on these assumptions, we believe McDonald's stock price would trade in the range of approximately $46 - $50 per share, as a result of a 20% IPO of McOpCo."

"A litany of missed promises and unforced errors have furthered our conviction that current leadership is ill-equipped to maximize the value of Corteva's assets."

"Gains from economic growth have not been evenly spread. Average wages have been flat for many years despite very low unemployment and strong productivity growth"

"We believe Samsara has been able to hide the deleterious financial impacts of its hardware products by unjustifiably extending device cost amortization periods."

"Shift from bank loans to debt in Europe continues to present the largest opportunity in the near-term; Jan. 2006 to May 2012 CAGR: 9% for Bonds vs. 5% for Loans"

"We call on management to explain if this is truly a sales commission, or an inducement to keep BH from taking more adverse measures to reduce its JV commitment?"

"On Sept. 6, 2008, the government placed the GSEs into conservatorship with the objective of returning them to normal operations when their businesses stabilized"

"If the GSEs increase their capital levels and become pure mortgage guarantors, they can be a simple, low-risk, and effective solution for housing finance reform"

"According to a seasoned industry executive, there are regional differences in tile use and structural foundations which have impeded FND's geographic expansion."

"Home Depot is an “A” credit vs. FND’s BB credit. Despite FND increasing its lease duration, why has its discount rate increased by 20bps less than Home Depot’s?"

"Spruce Point finds that Saputo's total environmental costs are surging from $4.6 to $64 million (0.04% to 0.37% of revenues) from 2017 – 2023, or a CAGR of 55%."

"GCP received a “D” from Glass Lewis on executive compensation, as the Board has compensated the CEO in-line with peers, despite significantly worse performance."

"At the current valuation, Trian believes that management must prioritize returning capital to shareholders over M&A and should clearly signal this to the market"

"Nelson Peltz, the Trian team and Allegion believe that good corporate governance and good operational results go hand in hand. The results speak for themselves."

"We believe Huntsman's use of integrated margins creates a warped view of product profitability and may lead to mispricing and poor internal resource allocation."

"The conclusion is that the SeparateCos could borrow up to $23.0 billon of debt to be used to return capital to shareholders or for future strategic initiatives."

"Sell-side promoters have relied on DV management's story that the international opportunity is large and growing fast. However, we believe the opposite is true."

"We call on TASK to clarify why its attrition is qualified for 180 days and is declining, while its closest public peer is reporting a trend of rising attrition."

"DoorDash, TASK's second largest client, has seen 9M 2021 revenue grow 41% over the comparable 9M 2020 period. Receivables have grown largely in-line at 46% YTD."

"We believe the following two Samsung Opco capital management and dividend policy measures are necessary to bring its shareholder returns in line with its peers:"

"These results are not reflective of a management team and Board of Directors that has earned the right, in our view, to execute a “bet the company” acquisition."

"Spruce Point is concerned that KRNT uses Monte Carlo simulation techniques to value the warrants, when in practice, most companies use the Black-Scholes method."

"Spruce Point believes MSCI operates in an increasingly crowded space for Private Assets analytics and data against pure-play and integrated analytics providers."

"On Sept. 6, 2008, the government placed the GSEs into conservatorship with the objective of returning them to normal operations when their businesses stabilized"

"Since buying through Hill-Rom in 2014, catastrophic American conditions are prevailing. It's all about sales and profits, the employees have become unimportant."

"Forward Air has one of the largest linehaul networks in North America with locations adjacent to every major airport and key facilities at major trade gateways."

"If New Red Lobster were to trade at 6-7x EBITDA, as projected by many sell-side analysts, then approximately $850 million of real estate value could be trapped."

"If New Red Lobster were to trade at 6-7x EBITDA, as projected by many sell-side analysts, then approximately $850 million of real estate value could be trapped."

"Xin'ai's filings never mention an additional non-cash investment nor record a receivable for IQ's purported RMB 757.75 million additional non-cash contribution."

"It will be interesting to watch the position taken by BlackRock's Investment Stewardship team itself ("BIS") as evidence of their credibility (or lack thereof)."

"The commentary illustrates why we believe Rollins' M&A growth strategy is being stymied by growing numbers of private equity bidders outspending the strategics."

"The financial engineering of the RiverStone JV enabled Fairfax to book net $117.1 million paper gains, without which Fairfax would have reported a loss in 2020."

"Listed on BEKE’s platform, the Nuojia Chengjia 9 Dragon Seal Flagship Store appears to be ‘active’ with dynamic client and property counts during 3Q21 and 4Q21."

"BMC has been slow to adapt to changes in the market place, including a well-publicized failure to quickly identify trends in SaaS solutions and cloud management"

"Adjusted EBITDA guidance reduced $200m. Net CFO range raised to $4,100 - $4,500 from $2,800 - $3,200 prior to reflect working capital benefit of PCF prepayment."

"There were no meaningful changes in blood pressure and acute eGFR, suggesting proteinuria reductions were not primarily due to hemodynamic effects of atrasentan"

"If the GSEs increase their capital levels and become pure mortgage guarantors, they can be a simple, low-risk, and effective solution for housing finance reform"

"A widening gap between a company's presentation of Adjusted EBITDA and Spruce Point's Calculation of FCF is often a sign of current and future financial strain."

"We note the recurring role of Viking Global, a hedge fund that is Ginkgo’s largest investor, in funding related party entities at inception or at a later stage."

"Why is management saying publicly that customers do want to move to the cloud when it privately tells Neuberger that customers do not want to move to the cloud?"

"In 2018, Southwest had best-in-class margins. Today, Southwest’s margins are the lowest in the peer group and approximately 900 basis points below best-in-class"

"PSH management fees will be reduced dollar for dollar by the proportionate share of fees paid to PSCM by HHH attributable to the HHH common stock held by PSH(1)"

"Providing cutting-edge GPUs to China-owned firms is severely restricted and violates US export controls and betrays Japan’s national security interests as well."

"It seems probable that €304.1 million of the Shareholder Loans on Vivion’s books as of FY 2018 were never actually funded (i.e., that the loans were falsified)."

"On Sept. 6, 2008, the government placed the GSEs into conservatorship with the objective of returning them to normal operations when their businesses stabilized"

"Given its market position and decades-long runway for sustained earnings growth, we believe UMG’s current valuation represents a discount to its intrinsic value"

"Pershing Square trimmed its holdings in HLT during 2024 given HLT’s strong share price performance and expanding valuation premium – HLT remains a core position"

"Given that one of Mr. Barnett’s other funds was the largest shareholder of BUR, we assume this investment was made purely to perpetuate a mythical ROIC and IRR."