Callouts & quotes from 662+ activist slides

"MSCI first acquired 40% of Burgiss in Q1 2020. Spruce Point observes that MSCI avoids an explicit discussion of the true profitability of Burgiss, but rather focuses on its mid-teens EBITDA margin."

"From 2009 to 2011, AOL's revenue declined nearly twice as fast as total operating expenses, causing EBITDA and free cash flow to decline by a staggering $700 million and $575 million, respectively."

"Under the RTC Plan, Crown Castle’s fiber will achieve positive cumulative EBITDA – Capex by 2024, finally achieving Crown Castle’s stated intention that fiber would contribute to dividend capacity"

"Valued separately, we believe BEF Foods would realize a higher value than Bob Evans Restaurants, based upon the double-digit EBITDA multiples afforded to certain pure-play packaged food companies."

"Once the whiskey bubble bursts, and MGPI's braded liquor strategy clearly fails, investors will realize they own a mediocre ingredient Company, which would be valued at 1x sales and 8x – 9x EBITDA"

"It is misleading to combine M&S with refining results when convenient to show higher EBITDA/bbl, but then exclude M&S when including it would show that opex/bbl is significantly higher than peers"

"Spruce Point believes management's long-term performance should be measured by EBITDA return on capital investment, or some measure of capital efficiency linked to the increased capital spending."

"It is misleading to combine M&S with refining results when convenient to show higher EBITDA/bbl, but then exclude M&S when including it would show that opex/bbl is significantly higher than peers"

"USCR's former CFO outlined expectations for continued EBITDA to Free Cash Flow expectations of 60% in late Oct 2016. Ever since making that forecast, USCR has fallen increasingly short of target."

"Our price target is based on the nature of a business unlikely to meet the market's overly optimistic expectations of captured market share, GGR revenue share and inflated target EBITDA margins."

"Lone Star's Adj. EBITDA margins are set to decline in FY25 by 150bps and the fine print disclaimer around the projected margin gives us considerable hesitation in believing they can be achieved."

"In fact, following the pre-announcement of recent results and initial 2018 outlook, we estimate that management’s EBITDA guidance for 2018 has fallen 17% below its original post-merger guidance."

"REITs operating across a wide range of real estate subsectors are currently levered at 6.1x net debt / forward EBITDA on average, with generally higher business cyclicality than CCI in our view"

"Although many additional opportunities are difficult to quantify, we have clearly identified at least $215 - $326 of annual EBITDA improvement that can be implemented to drive shareholder value"

"Although many additional opportunities are difficult to quantify, we have clearly identified at least $215 - $326 of annual EBITDA improvement that can be implemented to drive shareholder value"

"Most analysts value Pioneer through shorthand methods like a multiple of EBITDAX. We think the proper valuation is a long-term discounted cash flow of the resource opportunity. So we built one."

"SOFI is a financial engineering treadmill. Its reported EBITDA of $1,054 million is inflated by approximately $950 million through manipulated charge-off rates that feed into Fair Value models."

"We see significant downside risk as investors evaluate the evidence that SGHC’s EBITDA does not likely capture the non-controlling (minority) interest of its lucrative Raging River subsidiary."

"Assuming 2% comps and the Company’s unit growth plan, if EBITDA margins were to improve 100bps by 2008 (returning to 5-year average levels), EBITDA could increase by 41% from “reported” levels"

"Phillips is far from achieving its 2025 mid-cycle EBITDA target, with analyst's 2026 estimates signaling a major shortfall – despite consensus assuming a reasonable mid-cycle price environment"

"Avery is expensive relative to its specialty chemical and materials peers, even before our adjustments to its enterprise value for added debts, and normalization of EBITDA and Free Cash Flow."

"The carved out entity reported EBITDA that was $229 million higher than what was reported in the same year inside DuPont, meaning 500bps of costs were allocated to Axalta and stayed at DuPont"

"While the Company reported stellar results and a record EBITDA margin of 15.2%, the store manager says the sales were great but the store burned through cash and the bottom line wasn’t great."

"Despite our clear concerns and evidence that Avery is under increasing pressure, its one year forward EBITDA and EPS multiples have expanded over the past decade and are near all-time highs."

"We believe New TROX could easily lever up to 1.0x – 1.5x on a mid-cycle EBITDA basis and subsequently dividend the cash proceeds to shareholders while still maintaining strong credit metrics"

"Analysts expect Maxar to produce $181.3m of EBITDA in Q4'18 vs. $180.9 in Q4'17. But they do not account for the $24.6m one-time gain in their models. Maxar is set up to severely disappoint."

"For example, with clear evidence that EBITDA has been shrinking, margins contracting, and excess manufacturing capacity increasing, why has Saputo continued to add headcount year-after-year?"

"For FTAI to realize AP EBITDA through cash flows from operating activities (CFO) it must invest 101% of the book value of Inventory after the inventory is transferred from Leasing Equipment."

"Based on peers, we conclude that there are potentially material opportunities to improve ADT's cost structure as a standalone public company, enhancing both EBITDA margins and free cash flow"

"Artificial Intelligence could not do any better. I asked ChatGPT for help and it said that it would be “challenging to provide an accurate forecast for Solvay’s earnings and EBITDA in 2028.”"

"A sharp increase in operating expenses as a percentage of sales have resulted in AOL's EBITDA margins declining from 34% in 2009 to 16% in 2011 and falling substantially below peer levels."

"While Enfusion's recent 2024 revenue and Adj. EBITDA guidance came within market expectations, its new Free Cash Flow (FCF) conversion guidance implies a shortfall of FCF vs. expectations."

"AMT exhibits a casual attitude toward its investments, seemingly feeling investments are justified because they are made at lower price to EBITDA multiples than its EV / EBITDA multiple."

"Management has adjusted its definition of adjusted EBITDA on an almost quarterly basis. Rarely do we see management teams make such frequent adjustments to proprietary financial metrics."

"All valuation metrics reflect 2026E consensus segment EBITDA x 6.6x (PSX blended trading multiple) unless sold (zeroed out) or otherwise specified in blue when moving from left to right."

"All valuation metrics reflect 2026E consensus segment EBITDA x 6.6x (PSX blended trading multiple) unless sold (zeroed out) or otherwise specified in blue when moving from left to right."

"Our analysis indicates an alarming result: 2021 acquisitions contributed more Adj. EBITDA than revenue despite management claiming that Fetch, the largest deal of the year, was dilutive."

"All valuation metrics reflect 2026E consensus segment EBITDA x 6.1x (PSX blended trading multiple) unless sold (zeroed out) or otherwise specified in blue when moving from left to right."

"All valuation metrics reflect 2026E consensus segment EBITDA x 6.1x (PSX blended trading multiple) unless sold (zeroed out) or otherwise specified in blue when moving from left to right."

"All valuation metrics reflect 2026E consensus segment EBITDA x 6.6x (PSX blended trading multiple) unless sold (zeroed out) or otherwise specified in blue when moving from left to right."

"Capital leases have the main effect of inflating EBITDA and Free Cash Flow, two key measures investors used to value USCR. More importantly, management's bonus is tied heavily to EBITDA."

"Quantumscape projects a hockey stick revenue ramp in 4 years, reaching $3.2B and $6.4B by 2027/2028 with $808MM and $1.6B in EBITDA, respectively – approaching Google and Apple margins."

"Spruce Point believes the earnout structure allowed Evoqua to book Adjusted EBITDA and earnings for a transaction where management implied a high probability of failing to meet targets."

"We have identified more than $500 million in cost reductions through a combination of improved labor productivity and SG&A reductions, as well as other EBITDA improvement opportunities."

"Spruce Point observes that MSCI is capitalizing a greater amount of software development costs, which are conveniently added back to Adjusted EBITDA and passed-off as non-cash expenses."

"Fairness Opinions are valuation analyses that can be tailored considerably for a client by cherry-picking EBITDA figures, multiples and comparable figures to obtain the desired effect."

"Because AMT books these loan repayments (i.e. return legs of financial round trips) as rent revenue, the repayments artificially inflate AMT’s revenue, gross profit, EBITDA, and AFFO."

"NV5 was valued at 10x forward Adj. EBITDA in the deal, a roughly 50% discount to Limbach's current valuation, raising further concerns about the sustainability of Limbach's valuation."

"While investors have cheered WSP's ability to meet net revenue and Adj. EBITDA targets the past few years, we believe investors should scrutinize persistent missed net capex targets."

"Altogether, these components sum to $385.8 million of lost MPLN revenue in 2022, which translates to an organic Adjusted EBITDA and Levered Free Cash Flow decline of $294.2 million."

"In H1 FY 2019, Dollarama’s cash flow contracted on a year-over-year basis for the first time since it went public – this despite management’s efforts to bolster earnings and EBITDA."

"Additional benefits to EBITDA came from cuts to research & development expense (R&D) which should raise questions as Genius needs to continue innovating to stay ahead of the curve."

"Assuming TheFork gets sold at 5x CY26E revenue, Viator improves margins, and Brand Tripadvisor stabilizes growth and/or improves margins, the PF Company trades at just 2.5x EBITDA!"

"Assuming TheFork gets sold at 5x CY26E revenue, Viator improves margins, and Brand Tripadvisor stabilizes growth and/or improves margins, the PF Company trades at just 2.5x EBITDA!"

"PERI's EBITDA per average employee is similarly out-of-line with its advertising technology peers and closer to technology companies such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Facebook."

"Assuming TheFork gets sold at 5x CY26E revenue, Viator improves margins, and Brand Tripadvisor stabilizes growth and/or improves margins, the PF Company trades at just 2.5x EBITDA!"

"Assuming TheFork gets sold at 5x CY26E revenue, Viator improves margins, and Brand Tripadvisor stabilizes growth and/or improves margins, the PF Company trades at just 2.5x EBITDA!"

"The only public video company we could find that EBITDA margins equal to or greater than 50% is called China MediaExpress Holdings Inc. ("CCME"). However, CCME was a complete fraud"

"We believe there is evidence that Danimer’s EBITDA margin projections are overly optimistic based on the margin profiles of both its self-selected peers and chemical/plastic peers."

"To achieve management’s high-end EBITDA margin target on a GPU of $3,000, Carvana would have to maintain SG&A (ex-advertising) less than 1/3 that of CarMax. How plausible is this?"