Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"The biology was very much an afterthought for them. It's been very engineering-focused, very microfluidic-focused, but if you want to do medical research and you want to do cell biology, you better think about how the cells are going to behave on the chip."

"Taken together, Astra's acquisition of Apollo Fusion and V-band spectrum application are uninspired attempts at mimicking the strategies of more advanced competitors which underscore the limitations of its undersized rocket in providing in-space solutions."

"Scil generated 31% gross margins in 2018 and 2019, indicative of the Company's distribution business model. Of note, the Company was barely profitable on an operating basis despite scil management receiving Wilson's praise for their operational excellence."

"This kind of aggressive rep behavior goes on a lot. That's a big part of the business and I think it's incentivized as a big part of the business. Wink-wink, not verbally. The companies say it's all about the patient. It has nothing to do with the patient."

"Limbach previously included a footnote in its financial statements indicating whether its existing backlog substantially covered forecasted revenue but removed that disclosure in Q1’25, supporting our view that backlog coverage has materially deteriorated."

"Part 6. TransMedics device usage is, we conclude, almost all off-label, the largest such racket we have encountered, putting it at existential risk: “I’ve never seen a device manufacturer so boldly engage in off-label use themselves…it’s their technician.”"

"A transplant administrator at a pre-eminent center, one of the highest volume in the world, alleged that TransMedics attempted to "bully" the local OPO into granting them credentials to log into DonorNet, which they have allegedly obtained via another OPO."

"LinkedIn bios for other TransMedics surgeons lead us to think that thay are generally imported from India, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Eastern Europe, and so forth; have short tenures at the company of a year or two; and/or may be near the end of their careers."

"Saverio LaFrancesca, a “Principal Cardiothoracic Surgeon,” was previously the President and Chief Medical Officer of Biostage (NASDAQ: BSTG), a micro-cap pump-and-dump engaged in quackery and which was involved with the notorious surgeon Paolo Macchiarini."

"Bob Evans continues to be viewed as a restaurant company by investors and there are no packaged foods analysts following Bob Evans, even though almost half of Company EBITDA is generated by the growing and highly-profitable BEF Foods packaged foods segment"

"During interviews conducted with a range of experts in spacecraft design and manufacturing, we encountered a wall of skepticism regarding numerous aspects of AST's unusual satellite design, chief of which are its structural dynamics and thermal management."

"High concern about Vykat's tablet formulation, given swallowing issues and high risk of choking in PWS patients, indicating that patients simply chewed the pill instead, which is contraindicated and defeats its rationale as an extended-release formulation."

"The cumulative damage to shareholders’ interests must now be stopped and the BEA board needs to finally focus on delivering proper value for BEA shareholders, by conducting an auction process to explore the scope for a sale of BEA at an appropriate premium"

"Thus, our estimation using a corrected comparator suggests that the PhenoTest is faster by about 16h to deliver AST results, because it does skip the step of sub-cultures. Therefore, the time advantage is only 40% and not more than 75%, as claimed by AXDX."

"The Board of Directors shall establish and publish a capital allocation plan (hereinafter, the “Plan”) by 31st December 2024 to facilitate a growth-oriented investment strategy and a balanced return to shareholders to enhance the Company’s corporate value."

"Spruce Point finds it troubling that GFL restated results again in Q2 2020. Solid waste revenues mysteriously increased by $12m. The large increase of intercompany revenue, and boosting of Solid Waste segment results, is alarming in light of our research."

"Spruce Point believes DY's margins are not likely sustainable and may have benefited from various actions that may be difficult to continue. As further evidence of our concern, management has walked back talk of what its long-term EBITDA margin should be."

"Initially submitted as an advisory proposal to solicit shareholder feedback, but rejected by Keisei, Palliser's binding proposal to reduce the OLC stake below 15% offered shareholders a voice on capital allocation, whilst preserving management flexibility"

"Pershing Square is the third largest beneficial shareholder of Target with 7.8% of the company, including approximately $1 billion in common stock (3.3% of the company) and $280 million in stock options (4.5% of the company) based on recent market prices."

"Will the addition of the Pershing Square team, its investment expertise and hedging capabilities, along with a change in business strategy to a diversified holding company model deliver at least 150 bps of annual excess equity return for HHH shareholders?"

"Given that IonQ’s homepage – where most retail investors would look - leads with its 32-qubit computer and its press releases announced the launch with unambiguous language, we found it unusual that the recent prospectus only mentions an 11-qubit computer"

"While PowerSchool touts the depth of its student data, we believe it must adhere to laws governing use of this data. We will illustrate areas we believe the Company is at high risk of running afoul of its obligations to protect and safeguard student data."

"Analysts have proven to be overly optimistic about Maxar’s results, often taking management’s word at face value and extrapolating results. Estimates have been slowly coming down, but we believe they are still too optimistic with further room to contract."

"PS: If I manage to find a native American Indian’s feather headdress I will send this additional essential part of the memories. And by the way: “Singing in the rain” is indeed a wonderful classic – even though I have never tried to sing it in a fountain."

"When asked on the Aug 2022 call “how quickly” it would contribute to revenue, the CFO evaded the question and shifted the topic to “we’ve increased our capacity in San Francisco,” saying only that the facility would “start to record revenues” in Jan 2023."

"P&G’s income statement has stalled since 2011, underperforming the peer average on virtually every line item including: sales growth (volume and organic growth), gross profit growth, gross margins, operating profit growth, operating margins and EPS growth"

"WD-40’s valuation is disconnected from reality, yet overly bullish sell-side analysts see room for more expansion? As the world has faced an unprecedented slow-down, its valuation has increased even while its financial prospects and condition deteriorate."

"Kate has failed to successfully grow outside of Japan. Given the interest in Japanese beauty brands among foreign consumers and acquisitions of Japanese cosmetics brands by Western rivals, we believe Kate has an opportunity to establish a global presence."

"Furthermore, we note that the growth in the value of Amdocs’ European assets is not in line with the geographic distribution of its customers, nor with changes in the geographic distribution of its customer base since its European assets began to balloon."

"Based on a review of the transactions listed in Exhibit 4.49, the unique strategic franchises and the competitive position of Networks, private market valuation is estimated at 16x - 18x 2005PF OIBDA, implying an enterprise value of $47.6 - $53.6 billion."

"TASK is the only company among its peers that we could identify trying to sell investors on COVID-19 related expense adjustments to improve EBITDA and EPS. Analysts aren't asking any questions or pushing back on what we believe are aggressive adjustments."

"It is worth noting that, similar to past acquisitions, there will be some amount of MSCI shared expenses that will be allocated to the segment. These allocations will reduce the margins for Burgiss, while slightly increasing the margins in other segments."

"Rather than debate about the product, we focus on three core assumptions underpinning QuickBooks growth expectations: (1) mid-market expansion, (2) international growth, and (3) the presumed absence of competitive threats beyond those listed to the right."

"Therefore, the logical consequences of not making yourself available (without good reason) are that (1) you are failing to fulfil your duties as a Senior Independent Director, and (2) you risk sending a concerning message about your level of independence."

"New York City's population growth turned negative for the first time in 2017, legged down again in 2018 and appears poised for further trouble as housing remains inadequate across the city and the current crisis once again puts New York in the crosshairs."

"Although we believe there are a number of attractive alternatives for Macy’s to create substantial value for shareholders and remain investment grade, we believe the most prudent first step is to create multiple JVs for the majority of Macy’s real estate."

"In this illustration, we assume the JV takes on initial leverage of 5.8x net debt / EBITDA, or $6.9 billion(1), which enables Macy’s to repay debt at the parent-level in order to achieve a target leverage ratio of 3.5x Adjusted Debt / EBITDAR at the OpCo."

"A Snake Oil Salesman And Some Hedge Funds Partner Up To Pimp The Latest “Synthetic Biology” Scam -- As Phantom Revenue, A Hocus-Pocus Business Model, Rampant Related-Party Games, And A Decade of Colossal Failure Get Shoveled Into Yet Another Garbage SPAC."

"Accelerate Hyundai Proposals do not envision significant changes in other aspects of HMG as it currently stands, for example, key business and operational considerations, labor/work force utilization, key assets including factory and inventory managements"

"A former Nevro executive shared his dismay at patients being “flipped” and painted a sordid picture of “bad actors” hustling patients into the company’s stimulators and threatening to cut off their opioid refills as leverage to force them into the device."

"Given an expanded board it is necessary to raise the cap to accommodate the salaries for new external directors on a proportional basis, Oasis is therefore seeking to expand the current pay structure in line with an expanded board on a proportional basis."

"Limbach engages Crowe LLP as its auditor, a small firm with an estimated ~1% market share. Crowe faced SEC charges in the past over deficient audits on a company which was discovered to have $100 million in undiscovered liabilities after it went bankrupt."

"NRP for DCS's...has the potential to really eat into the overall volume for TransMedics...personally, I feel quite confident that the outcomes are better with NRP than they are with OCS...NRP, I think, is better...and it’s obviously significantly cheaper."

"In its Q3 2022 10-Q, B. Riley Financial (Nasdaq: RILY) abruptly stopped assuring investors that it was in compliance with the covenants of two credit agreements – its $380 million Nomura credit agreement, as well as its $75 million BRPAC credit agreement."

"The KOL blasted the entire package of Vykat clinical trials as lacking in credibility and alleged a pattern on dubious investigator conduct, from the single-center Phase 2 pilot study to the randomized withdrawal trial that kicked it over the finish line."

"am I going to go to the mat and do an appeal and do all this extra stuff and work super hard for a drug that I don't believe is all that powerful or effective to begin with? No, it's just not a strong enough medicine to put in that much additional effort."

"Shopify has recently added a section in its Help Center for “Migrating from Lightspeed to Shopify”. We believe this to be another signal of the increasing competition between Lightspeed and Shopify, a battle we believe Shopify is better positioned to win."

"The authors state that the death (heart attack) and QTc changes were not likely related to study drug but no explanation is provided for this assessment – and we emphasize that patients with significant cardiovascular disease were excluded from the study."

"DARPA's snub, determining that IONQ does not have a reasonable chance of making a useful quantum computer within 10 years, must have been a huge kick in the teeth for IONQ since its CEO has been claiming it has already commercialized its quantum computer."

"This is despite management alluding to a potential buyer on the Q1 2023 earnings call, with CEO Albright claiming that they may “have a buyer group interested” in response to an analyst’s question on CTO’s exposure to Fidelity, General Dynamics, and Ford."

"Basically all revenue growth since Mar '23 has come from siphoning deferred revenue – an abrupt change of trend and the first major, sustained decline in “advances.” Increase in revenue of ¥38B/$245MM is similar to ¥44B/$283MM decline in deferred revenue."

"Other recent Generac product introductions have fallen short. Notably, in 2018 Generac promoted its new outdoor power equipment line called Generac PRO for commercial users such as landscapers and renters. Today, many products don't exist on the website."

"Generac recently increased its cash rebate incentives from $600 to $1,000 to sign-up for first time installers. Why would Generac increase incentives if it were having no issues recruiting installers? Even with increased incentives, dealer growth slowed."

"The material overpayment for the Brazil assets relative to their profitability and risks lead us to believe that AMT should be forced to impair its intangible assets and/or goodwill by US$274 million, or 28% of the combined amounts paid for acquisitions."

"We believe Procept mischaracterizes the landscape for BPH procedures, both by suggesting that resective surgical procedures can displace drugs and MISTs and that Aquablation has the potential to be the "one-size-fits-all" treatment for all BPH sufferers."

"We note that there is no way to “accidentally” enter MIT in the education credentials section of LinkedIn. The edit boxes for both the intro/header section and the education section – Chapman lists MIT under both – make it clear what you’re representing."

"The sell side believes that Dexcom's target U.S. market is 25% penetrated, leaving significant room for continued CGM adoption. However, under Spruce Point's view of Dexcom's optimal market opportunity, Dexcom's current market is already ~50% penetrated."

"This provision does not pass our smell test. Why should AstraZeneca's commitment to buy TEM's products and services depend at all on TEM's share price rather than true economic demand for its products and services and the perceived value being delivered?"

"Ms. Lin’s significant leadership experience as a senior executive in both the hybrid chemicals and broader industrials industries, coupled with her considerable experience serving on public company boards, would make her a valuable addition to the Board."

"With many of Align's key CAD/CAM software patents having rolled off from 2018-20, Spruce Point observes that new, innovative companies are beginning to disrupt what has been one of the major barriers to widespread 3D printer adoption among orthodontists."