Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"Employer Services' overall margin increased from 30.4% to 30.6% for fiscal 2017, as compared to fiscal 2016. This 20 basis point increase was driven by operational efficiencies partially offset by 30 basis points of pressure from dual operation costs related to our Service Alignment Initiative."

"Despite adding $4.7 billion of revenue over the past ten years, Skechers' General & Administrative expense as a percent of revenue has barely budged. Furthermore, often blamed supply chain expenses don't seem to be a major driver. We view this as a colossal example of poor financial management."

"While iRhythm frequently refers to its products as representing the "gold standard", that clearly is not the case for the Zio AT. The 2024 Form 483 (San Francisco) revealed that the product breached its sensitivity threshold, delivering materially lower performance than the Philips MCOT device."

"Although we question Amdocs' reported workforce figures, we are struck by the relative growth in the Company's headcount in India relative to other geographies. We believe that this reflects Amdocs' increasing shift towards IT services and business process outsourcing, over product development."

"Given the company has abandoned its 2025 EBITDA target, which in turn undermines the credibility of the 2030 target as well, what financial targets - previously communicated by BP, during the February 2023 strategic update - can the market now refer to in order to measure the company's results?"

"Analysts are polarized when it comes to SMCI's share price outlook. However, we don't believe any have properly assessed the risks from having a large portion of its current business tied to Facebook, which is under cost-cutting pressures and reportedly already reducing spending on datacenters."

"We also double checked the numbers from the Consumer International and Direct segment reporting, which includes the FLAWLESS acquisition. Again, FLAWLESS revenues are estimated at $7.5m - $8.2m, slightly different than $7.2m - $8.1m we previously estimated from the consolidated net sales level."

"Since it appears the Company has little interest in letting shareholders have their say regarding the Red Lobster Separation, the Special Meeting will provide an alternative forum for shareholders to show the Board that Darden's shareholders will not stand to be silenced on this critical issue."

"Samsung's listed assets are worth c.$500bn with most of the value in the technology & biotech sectors. That said, significant capital and effort remain invested in mature old economy businesses that are no longer a strong fit with Samsung's future vision or the development needs of modern Korea"

"A quick search of high-profile press stories regarding recent egregious operational failures at IVF clinics, including one that a USA Today article called “one of the biggest fertility center debacles in U.S. history”, surfaces four cases involving centers that remain in the PGNY network today."

"With the same toxic combination of leverage and cash burn, we believe investors underestimate Nevro’s risk of becoming the next Nuvectra, especially if the FDA takes any action against its product, or if the OIG’s Nov 16th Special Fraud Alert on speakers programs is predictive of what’s coming."

"We are further concerned that Nova's shareholder Kushkush Investments Pty Ltd, which appears linked to its ASIC-charged former CEO Kimelman through his wife, has a registered and head office address at 7 Sarah Crescent, Templestowe, Victoria, Australia which appears to be a residential address."

"the majority of patients do not come back and say holy hell, I can't believe how awesome I feel. It doesn't work that way. It's an adjunctive measure to get people to feel improvement that they say, yeah, you know what? I do feel some improvement, and I notice it even more when I don't take it."

"They completely boxed everybody out, and you have days and weeks go on where, as a rep, you don't know what's going on. You have no clue, they won't tell you...there's nobody I can call at corporate to facilitate it, and so, I have to just keep my mouth shut...I don't know the reason behind it."

"How did revenue contributed from a change in natural gas volumes go down in 2021 vs. 2020 given: 1) A full year of Peoples natural gas volume contribution in 2021 vs. 2020 (volumes increased substantially from 91,695 to 139,672 MMcf) and, 2) An increase in natural gas prices from 2020 to 2021?"

"Off Grid's history dates to 2000, and it assumed its name in 2010. Its website hasn't been updated since 2019 despite being acquired by Generac in Sept 2021. Despite this long operating history, its largest customer appears to be a related-party located right next door that sells its products."

"Part of the reason we struggle to underwrite Box's story of accelerating growth and expanding margins is the fact that Box has discussed initiatives to accelerate growth in the past, but not delivered on it, and has had several different target models, consistently needing to walk them back..."

"Unfortunately, Manulife does not separately report its “available capital” and “regulatory capital” in its quarterly reports, but based on simple math, when you decrease your numerator and increase your denominator by at the same time, the LICAT Ratio has the potential to decline dramatically."

"More ominously, he described IonQ’s machine as a “black box” where you couldn’t audit what was the computer was doing, leading him to speculate “more nefariously, that they were hiding something”: “we had a hard time getting behind-the-scenes look”; “we couldn’t really ask a lot of questions…”"

"If, in order to maintain market share, Dexcom is forced to slash sensor and transmitter prices to achieve parity with the Libre's daily cost of use to the payor, the Company's gross profit would be wiped out in its entirety, even if revenue from up-front receiver purchases were to hold steady."

"From the end of 2013 to the end of 2016, Arconic invested $5 billion dollars in growth capital expenditures, research and development and acquisitions in EPS. For the $5 billion invested, Arconic generated an incremental $73 million of NOPAT for a Return on Incremental Invested Capital of 1.5%"

"So it's not that we are not looking at the utilization of factories, right, but what we have the advantage that we also have a lot of technology so we want to get to a position where ideally we can combine those both worlds where we can give the customer a value at the same time at lower cost."

"Seemingly unlike iRhythm’s Board, we do not believe the same management team that resided over a systematically flawed quality and compliance system should receive extra incentive compensation just to remediate their shortcomings, obey basic medical device laws, and cease endangering patients."

"Spruce Point sent an investigator to check on Oatly’s Maanshan China operations. Oatly claims it will be in production by the second half of 2021. However, based on our evidence it has materially fallen behind stated production plans in Utah and New Jersey, we were skeptical of Oatly’s claims."

"In addition, total job opening growth – also per LinkedIn analytics – has fallen 32% over the previous 3 months, particularly in sales where it is minus 60% over this period – particularly telling as Twist is supposedly in an “aggressive hiring spree” for its “Factory of the Future” in Oregon."

"While there are multiple contributing factors to TI’s underperformance, we believe the most significant has been the dramatic increase in capital investment announced in 2022, which has led to a fundamental deviation from TI’s long-held commitment to driving growth in free cash flow per share."

"Assuming 5-year useful lives for the intangibles related to customer lists from the Credit Karma and Mailchimp acquisitions results in estimated 21% to 26% reductions in GAAP net income in each of the past three fiscal years and a near halving of GAAP net margins since FY 2020 from 24% to 14%."

"Spruce Point believes that Forescout will have trouble reaccelerating its top-line growth rate as it attempts to win smaller, more price-sensitive mid-level customers with less comprehensive cybersecurity needs – particularly as the ongoing pandemic pressures budgets across the global economy."

"Management's claims of illusory benefits of the DLC structure and phantom costs of unification are not the way to deal with a value-distorting and obsolete group structure – we see c.US$200 million as the real cost of unification – at a minimal cost for such a large value-unlocking opportunity"

"The store’s address listed on BEKE’s platform leads to a large apartment complex, while its SAIC certificate provides a more detailed address. When our investigator visited the store’s SAIC registered address, we found a derelict and abandoned store front located in a former gate guard’s room."

"We contend that APP engages in Fingerprinting 2.0 by creating user graphs composed of other platforms unique identifiers like the Facebook "fbp", Google "ga", etc. and importantly marrying this up with an e-commerce site like Shopify's event data to recognize whether such users are high value."

"Additional media searches and field observations found no evidence of a construction site in Kangping Development Zone of this project's scale, leading us to conclude that processing facilities to make up the core of this dairy cluster have undergone only preliminary stage development at best."

"We believe Heska's assertion that its 2020 subscription performance outperformed its outlook appears to be incorrect. Furthermore, we believe the Company embellishes its North American subscription growth metric by not properly disclosing the potential contribution of scil's Canadian business."

"With the resignation of the Fortress Directors, the tone of management regarding real estate has changed FROM openly supportive of unlocking value for shareholders TO expressing a desire to own it - this is despite a substantial increase in healthcare real estate values over the past two years"

"We believe Limbach significantly overstates its free cash flow, which in turn inflates its reported Adj. EBITDA-to-FCF conversion rate. While the Company claims an 80% conversion rate over the past six years, our Spruce Point-adjusted FCF analysis suggests the true figure may be less than 60%."

"In August 2025 HelloFresh paid US$7.5 million in a settlement due to a complaint by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Consumer Protection Division about misleading “dark pattern” marketing, failure to obtain affirmative consent for auto-renewals, and inadequate cancellation processes."

"While developing a chip rather than licensing HDClear may or may not be the right answer over time, we believe it is critical to have independent Board members who can assess the risk-reward of each option with an open mind, so that HDClear has the highest chance of success over the long term."

"As such, having explored various options with the Company in recent weeks, Palliser has determined to submit the enclosed formal shareholder proposal to add an advisory resolution ("Advisory Resolution") to the agenda for the 181st Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders ("AGM") in June 2024."

"Comparable MOB-focused REITs show significantly more volatility in their quarterly SPNOI results than HTA. Investors should be asking how is this possible, and if so, why has HTA’s management chosen to operate its business in this manner, when no other company in the industry elects to do so."

"We believe directors sit on a board to represent the interests of shareholders. In our view, the corporate governance and nominating committee should heed the voice of shareholders and act to remove directors not supported by shareholders or correct the issues that raised shareholder concern."

"Starboard believes Mr. Riedel's direct involvement in the restructuring of Nortel, including the sale of the Nortel's patent portfolio for $4.5 billion, as well as his knowledge of the technology industry and leadership experience, will enable him to provide invaluable oversight to the Board."

"Based on the $250-$275 million revenue range and $1 billion estimated backlog, the business looks incredibly cheap at 0.55x revenues and 0.15x backlog which leads us to question the quality of the deal especially in light of an industry source referencing “past due invoices” from contractors."

"In the end, it is admittedly difficult to propose a deal that satisfies both the shareholders of the target company and those of the buyer and it is equally difficult to propose a deal that will displease them all: Glencore's Board of directors seems to have succeeded in this remarkable task."

"Land and Buildings sees 70% upside to a base case net asset value of $33 per share, and up to 180% upside in a bull case, that can be realized through a REIT conversion, a tax free spin-off of a lodging C-corp, and a reduction of leverage through asset sales and an MGM China special dividend."

"Today I’m going to describe a similar situation with certain energy companies. These companies have negative development economics, meaning that aside from a few choice locations, they don’t earn a positive return on capital, but have a nearly infinite supply of negative return opportunities."

"Align bulls generally do not consider in-house 3D printing a serious threat to the Company. However, Spruce Point finds that historical limitations to in-house 3D printing have little to do with doctor preference, brand loyalty, or cost savings limitations, as is believed by most Align bulls."

"Arconic originally projected that Firth Rixson would do $2 billion of revenue in 2019. At the same margins as originally projected for 2016 (i.e., conservatively assuming no incremental volume leverage), Firth Rixson will produce approximately 50% less EBITDA than originally targeted for 2019"

"According to BlackRock, it is in the best interest of their clients (and the market) to have one Board seat instead of three, in a Board composed of seventeen directors, sixteen of which appointed by a controlling shareholder via multiple voting shares (1:10) with only a 10% economic interest"

"We are working with these director candidates, along with a group of advisors and one of the leading operationally-focused consulting firms, to develop a turnaround plan for Darden that will put performance on par with well-performing competitors and create substantial value for shareholders."

"PT ALH seems to be a premeditated chain of sham transactions that not only unjustifiably pumped up net income by $46.4 million (and possibly EBITDA the next year), but requires investors to believe that in order to facilitate the transactions, Noble’s attorneys went out of pocket $12 million."

"WD-40’s share price defies logic and trades at an extreme valuation. Post the last financial crisis in 2018, management has directed ~62% of total free cash flow into repurchasing shares at increasingly inflated prices, while it methodically reduces its stake in the Company to almost nothing."

"We believe the proposed transaction will not close the Company's substantial discount to net asset value ("NAV") and is a thinly veiled attempt by management and the Board to rid themselves of a decades-long poor track record rather than address the fundamental issues challenging the Company."

"We are writing to you today because we believe the Company has a great deal of potential that is unfortunately not being realized. This is due to Upwork’s lack of strategic clarity and focus, ineffective execution, poor capital allocation, and revolving management team under CEO Hayden Brown."

"According to BlackRock, it is in the best interest of their clients (and the market) to have one Board seat instead of three, in a Board composed of seventeen directors, sixteen of which appointed by a controlling shareholder via multiple voting shares (1:10) with only a 10% economic interest"

"To create the most value from a “Land-only” REIT spin-off, a retailer must meet certain criteria including very high land ownership, predominantly U.S.-based real estate and retail sales, strong square footage growth in the U.S., and low valuation multiples. Target meets ALL of these criteria"

"In addition to cherry-picking and bias from lack of blinding, some of the most troubling allegations about the conduct of the trial came from former executives of Nevro, who described Nevro’s approach to studies at “highly unethical” and suggested Nevro’s skill at manipulating study patients."

"AST is an ambitious, wildly risky science project that has no business (literally) being public - only the SPAC bubble of 2021 could have managed to change its destiny from being a forgotten zero tucked away in a few venture capital funds into what is rapidly becoming a classic stock promote."

"We urge you to change direction and do the right thing for shareholders. As we have expressed to you, we expect the shareholders’ interest to remain of paramount importance and will look to make significant changes to the Board if you continue to make decisions that destroy shareholder value."

"Spruce Point finds it incredibly suspicious that Off Grid's sister company and customer subsequently impaired assets in an amount similar to the receivables it was owed. Like Off Grid, Hybrid Power was subsequently sold shortly after the earnout period of March 31, 2022 disclosed by Generac."

"Based on Peng's employment at the consolidated Sprandi subsidiaries of the ListCo, his sale of similarly named entities to ANTA, and his role in ANTA Capital, where he led an ANTA delegation to scout our new factory locations, Henan Ruili appears to be a captive, not an independent supplier."