Callouts & quotes from 572+ activist slides

"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"

"Q2 results illustrate how the underlying business of the legacy MDA is deteriorating fast. YTD underlying organic growth was -12.7%. Management also cut EBITDA margins materially."

"We believe that Amdocs' unusually steady margins are reflective of a management team eager to meet Wall Street expectations, and willing to engineer numbers to do so if necessary."

"An increase in scale and an improvement in revenue mix (lower mix of servicing fees, higher mix of net interest revenue) should have driven margins above the 2006 pro forma levels"

"SiTel’s historical operating expenses and margins, as well as other legacy semiconductor businesses, can be used to compute the profitability of DSP’s Digital Telephony business."

"Trian believes management can achieve at least 16.0% operating margins by 2018 and ultimately reach 18% operating margins over time...gross margins are a substantial opportunity"

"We believe GCP has opportunities to improve gross margins by improving manufacturing practices, simplifying supply-chain management, and implementing strategic pricing projects."

"The CEO is “confident” that TASK can improve margins to exceed 25% while a former executive interviewed by Spruce Point expressed doubt absent a real significant differentiator."

"Amazon has twice implemented royalty cuts to its merchants to support “increases in manufacturing costs”. Royalty cuts eat into merchants’ margins, which drives dissatisfaction."

"We believe GoDaddy has a significant opportunity to improve margins and drive shareholder value through a disciplined approach to operational efficiency and capital allocation."

"Less than two months before the scil transaction was announced, Heska told investors that it was targeting 2022 gross margins of 49.5%. The current plan is 42% at the midpoint."

"Despite operating as nearly a pure play passive platform, State Street’s Investment Management margins meaningfully lag the peer average of ~ 45% and BlackRock’s margin of 39%"

"Based on the current cost structure for the Display business, even assuming 100% incremental margins, AOL's Display business would have to grow by over 95% just to break even."

"Under 3G management, Heinz expanded global gross margins by ~600 bps and Europe gross margins by ~1,100 bps in just two years without a material additional capital investment"

"Our proposed “Transformation Case” for ADP will lead to more robust top-line growth (i.e. better competitive positioning in Enterprise) and expand long-term operating margins"

"The low gross and net profit margins the distributors show support our view that ANTA is using its control of those distributors to fraudulently inflate its reported profits."

"We would expect truly independent Tier 1 distributors’ gross margins to approximate 30% to 35%, which is based on information provided in the interviews with Messrs. A and C."

"Under 3G management, Heinz expanded global gross margins by ~600 bps and Europe gross margins by ~1,100 bps in just two years without a material additional capital investment"

"What did CEO Jagdfeld know before entering into a second 10B5-1 program as dealer growth stopped, margins subsequently collapsed, and working capital and liquidity worsened?"

"A Capital IQ search for healthcare companies globally >$100MM revenue and >$500MM market cap yielded about 500 results – and only 2 companies with margins worse than Ginkgo."

"Quantumscape’s valuation of $15B requires a leap of faith from making lab prototypes to selling billions of dollars of batteries within 5-6 years, with Google-like margins."

"If we assume Fox's gross margins are comparable, by our estimate, Rollins 40bps year-over-year gross margin improvement is solely attributable to the contribution from Fox."

"We believe Autodesk can achieve these targets through approximately $350 million of net cost savings and 55% incremental margins on consistent revenue growth expectations."

"In apparent contradiction to its down-market positioning, NMC's EBITDA margins are significantly higher than those of Aster and Mediclinic, by about ten percentage points."

"GE has exhibited limited margin improvement - despite a beneficial mix shift toward higher-margin services revenue - because equipment margins have significantly declined"

"It should be noted that this expenditure will not improve ATL’s margins as energy costs are all passed through to carriers who will solely benefit from this expenditure."

"In the context of our findings about unusual revenue reporting and margins, we are alarmed to see that MSCI's Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) resigned on August 18, 2023."

"We view this program as a negative development with ADI having to be more promotional to stimulate revenue. As a result, we would expect this to weigh on future margins."

"However, as shown below, Autodesk's projected underlying incremental margins compare poorly to peers when adjusting for the estimated impact of the workforce reduction."

"While taking pricing up 20% in one go is tricky, 5% price increase backed by proper marketing would lift operating margins 3% for these SKUs based on our estimatations."

"There are several flaws of the DCF analysis. First, it's entirely dependent on assumption inputs. These inputs, such as growth, margins, and CapEx, are very subjective."

"ADP does a real good job of trying to look at ways to maximize margins, but you do it on a cadence that perhaps isn't at a pace that we are going to try to accelerate."

"FTAI’s Aerospace Products EBITDA margins are inflated because hundreds of millions of cash costs are incurred by the Leasing segment rather than in Aerospace Products."

"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"

"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"

"GoDaddy has a significant opportunity to improve margins and drive shareholder value through a disciplined approach to operational efficiency and capital allocation."

"As revenue growth slowed, Autodesk’s incremental margins declined to 50% – below prior levels and below the 55% incremental margins we believe Autodesk should target"

"Twist had negative gross margins as recently as 2018, despite meaningful revenue of $25MM and a negligible asset base, turning sharply positive immediately after IPO"

"As revenue growth slowed, Autodesk's incremental margins declined to 50% – below prior levels and below the 55% incremental margins we believe Autodesk should target"

"Based on incremental operating earnings from potential Professional Services gross margins of ~10% to 20% as compared to LTM 03/31/12 reported gross margin of 0.8%."

"Management says that EPS can increase margins by 400 bps in 3-to-5 years. Given the volume leverage in this business, this is an extraordinarily undemanding target"

"Spruce Point believes that the wider delta in GAAP and Non-GAAP Gross Margins pre and during COVID-19 are a reflection of greater financial strain in the business."

"Analysts seem blind to the fact that as Lightspeed scales, its gross margins are not only getting worse, but by a much larger factor than consensus is forecasting."

"The vast majority of what ADP calls “service” is product support to compensate for weak software and technology, which when fixed, will improve growth and margins"

"FDA review incorrectly infers QT safety margins, stating they are based upon "steady state Cmax" when they are actually based on plasma levels after a single dose"

"While Ferguson has expanded EBITDA margins over the last 5 years, Trian believes there is an opportunity to better leverage growth and improve margin flow through"

"We believe the Board must take immediate action to improve margins, optimize capital allocation, and enhance governance to unlock significant shareholder value."

"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"

"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"

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

"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."

"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"

"FTAI Management Claims to be Immune From a Significant Supply-Demand Shift in the Market. But if This Were True, Why Would EBITDA Margins Be Falling So Quickly?"

"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"

"Unfortunately, we believe that this plan does not go far enough as margins will still be significantly below nearly all of the Company's peers, as shown below."

"We believe Bristol-Myers standalone adjusted EBITDA margins could improve from 36% to 45%, with an opportunity to potentially expand margins further over time."

"While there are some differences in business model and mix, both S&P Ratings and MH Financial operate at margins well below best-in-class pure play competitors"

"The effect of EEGs on the bottom line is very important because, like any trading company, Olam generates substantial amounts of revenue with very low margins."

"Borders was trading at approximately $27.50 per share in February 2005 but has since traded down primarily due to weakening margins and same store sales trends"

"Ferguson's US business has organically outgrown the market by an average of 300-400bps while delivering improving operating margins and increasing ROIC to ~23%"