Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"Given the anomalous number of adverse event reports associated with pitolisant – visible quickly after US launch a mere couple of years ago – the evidence demonstrates that its cardiotoxicity is exponentially greater than Seldane’s."

"Given Grizzly’s findings, it may be questioned whether Accor SA’s risk assessment processes, mitigation measures, regular assessment procedures, and remediation measures were robust enough to detect risks of human rights violations."

"The uptime is clearly an issue. The Urashima system or the plasma-based light source that they use to produce EUV—it always was going to be the challenge. It's not only uptime but also debris from the tin-based system that they use."

"Avery is an “investment grade” rated BBB / Baa2 / Stable by agencies S&P and Moody’s, respectively. We believe the credit agencies are not attuned to the fundamental challenges, and problematic accounting masking Avery’s struggles."

"Generac’s core competency and product focus has always been Home Standby Generators. However, a recently conducted study by Consumer Reports shows that Generac is not the highest ranked in the category of “Home Standby Generators”."

"Since the IPO on the London Stock Exchange in May 2013 and from our average cost basis prior to the position being made public, Platform’s share price has increased 201%, including the attached warrants associated with the offering"

"Essentially because TRE learned that it could successfully lie about operating a factory with a party known to shareholders, it went two steps further – lying about operating a trading business with a party unknown to shareholders."

"Themis and Mercury’s relationship with Supermicro was so strong that it was listed as one of their nine technology partners. However, following the Bloomberg report, Mercury quietly removed Supermicro as a partner from its website."

"Even assuming that service segment SG&A as a % of sales remains flat through the coming years likely underestimates the costs which PetIQ is likely to incur through the wellness center build (new store opening costs in particular)."

"However, upon closer examination, BP's strategy not only leads to the likely destruction of shareholders value - to the benefit of US super-major shareholders - but also fails to advance the proposed environmental and social cause."

"CIFS’s SEC filings imply that during the first two days of Kashgar SYX’s existence (December 29 – 31, 2016), it generated pre-tax income of $6.6 million (which translated into an astounding 47.3% of CIFS’s consolidated net income)."

"We believe that management's and the sell side's discussion of international markets as a significant growth opportunity inflates Dexcom's apparent TAM to investors. Dexcom's market opportunity beyond the U.S. is currently limited."

"We believe companies should generate significant operating leverage on revenue growth, evidenced by incremental margins that are substantially higher than consolidated margins – especially software companies with high gross margins"

"Stacy Nieuwoudt’s extensive experience evaluating plans to maximize shareholder value and investing across the energy sector, as well as her public company board experience, would make her a valuable addition to the Phillips Board."

"Analysts and investors extolled the benefits of a separation of Alcoa Inc.’s Upstream and Downstream businesses for years, while Dr. Kleinfeld dragged his feet and argued that he was the best steward of the Company’s various assets"

"An average-sized residential system has dropped from a pre-incentive price of $40,000 in 2010 to roughly $18,000 today, while recent utility-scale prices range from $16/MWh - $35/MWh, competitive with all other forms of generation."

"In the past decade, Zebra insider ownership has plummeted from 6.5% to just 1% of the equity. Over the same period, institutional investors known for doing fundamental research have either exited or materially reduced their stakes."

"2U is trading at peak valuation on the perception of flawless execution of existing and future program launches. Our report will illustrate the pressures facing 2U and why an unfavorable risk/reward exists at its current valuation."

"Spruce Point has evaluated thousands of financial statements over the years, but we have never seen an income statement charge called “unused office space” which Kratos repeatedly discloses. We are not buying what Kratos is selling"

"What were they integrating? Dudum went from being "very energized by the team's progress" on February 22, 2022 to the lead executive departing in May 2022 to opaquely telling investors he didn't see much opportunity in August 2022."

"Spruce Point believes that FND has a hidden form of debt within its Supply Chain Finance program. We observed that it modified disclosure language to reference amounts owed to financial intermediaries from amounts due to suppliers."

"Monster is dependent on keeping the perceived value of its equity high because it is the most aggressive issuer of stock-based compensation at 1.2% of revenue and almost ~$15,000 per employee among selected food and beverage peers."

"So in the absence of second-by-second trading updates and so that investors don't feel wronged or defrauded that we may close out of a lot of a position very quickly after publishing, just assume that that is exactly what we'll do."

"Where is the actual $5.6 million payment that was made in 2022? It is not recorded through the financing or investing section as related to the acquisition. Did it go all through the income statement and reduce operating cash flow?"

"85% of WFG agents reviewed had best practice issues, which most commonly included agents not taking notes when speaking with clients, insufficient disclosures, and insufficient information given to clients about potential policies."

"Vadara appear to address quality issues Spruce Point have previously raised and that plague Caesarstone's online reviews (cracking/chipping, staining & using chemicals), which appear to be a deterrent to purchasing CSTE's worktops."

"We are writing today to express our deep concern regarding your refusal to engage with ASG Technologies Group, Inc. (“ASG”), our portfolio company which has expressed serious interest in doing a take-private transaction with Mitek."

"Our reaction to the launch of the Intuit Enterprise Suite targeting the mid-market on September 17th was the same as the stock market’s: a giant yawn. We believe the offering largely represents the repackaging of existing products."

"Intuit frequently touts its AI and how its models are inherently advantaged from its vast trove of customer data. However, TurboTax Assist seems to have failed even the most basic queries from a Washington Post technology reporter."

"PERI's revenue per search per day is down 45% since 2019. However, the magnitude of the decline in Q1 2023, which fell 35% and 21% QoQ and YoY, is particularly disturbing and not adequately explained by management. RPM fell by 22%."

"Exiting slow-growth / no-growth businesses is not a costless strategy. Divestments do not occur in a vacuum. Management should not get credit for a higher “core” growth rate simply because it plans to exit slower-growth businesses."

"During one visit, they stood in front of Fab 4A as machines were being delivered. At that moment, we came to understand the only purpose that the so-called fab serves: as a storage facility for overflowing finished goods inventory."

"Olam restated certain 2008 figures in 2009... some of the figures that appear to be offsetting each other are coming from completely unrelated line items, and the changes leave S$64.5 million in unexplained adjustments to the COGS."

"The restatement makes no sense—for it to be correct, there must have been S$64.5 million in other unexplained increases within the cost of goods sold that were unrelated to the massive declines in derivatives and export incentives."

"In reality, Core is a cyclical business whose particular product suite was less affected by the 2009 downturn than other companies in the industry. Core was in the right place at the right time in the last cycle, but not this time."

"High ROI on buyback implies that there ought to be space in capital allocation for buybacks given the high return, and ultimately that is just acquiring great assets like SEC and Samsung Biologics for shareholders at a big discount"

"Step 1: The existing company ("Target Corp") forms a new subsidiary ("TIP REIT") and transfers to it the Facilities Management Services business, the owned land under the stores, and the owned land under the distribution facilities"

"We believe companies should generate significant operating leverage on revenue growth, evidenced by incremental margins that are substantially higher than consolidated margins – especially software companies with high gross margins"

"Spruce Point has conducted a thorough forensic review of the Amcor / Bemis transaction, including management’s bold claims for the transaction. Our analysis either disproves, or calls into question, each of the main selling points."

"athena wants everyone to back out the stock compensation because it’s a “non-cash” expense. Yet, it pays out cash taxes as part of its stock compensation scheme. At $28 million, that’s more than the company’s entire free cash flow."

"We have serious concerns about Heska’s management, financials, and competitive positioning, and we don’t believe the scil and CVM businesses acquired for 1.4x and 1.9x revenues only 1.5 years ago are worth substantially more today."

"We therefore believe that the reports CTR prepares for the Company are wholly unreliable. We do not believe that CTR developed these inaccurate numbers in a vacuum. We therefore hold the Company responsible for these misstatements."

"We estimate that Zillow's Adj. EBITDA growth since 2017 is comprised entirely of stock-based compensation. Zillow adds back stock-based compensation to Adj. EBITDA as a non-cash cost but uses cash to repurchase stock from dilution."

"Through accounting sleight of hand, a cash investment partially provided by Invesco, and a reverse merger into a soon-to-collapse U.S. nanocap led by a highly questionable CEO, BUR turned a loss at trial into a purported 195% ROIC."

"Adding a conservative $20 million in estimated cash legal fees incurred to date for this complex international litigation yields an ROIC that, while still impressive, is over seven times smaller than the 3,278% that Burford claims."

"The long-term nature of CalSTRS’ liabilities, and its responsibilities as a fiduciary to its members, makes the fund keenly interested in governance issues and ensuring that the businesses are optimally presented to the marketplace"

"Our liver transplant surgeons don't use TransMedics...a lot of people don't think you need it on the liver...cold storage works very, very well...ischemic times can be 8 hours...our liver guys are not interested in using it at all."

"Pitolisant is plagued by a potent CYP2D6 liability and extensive drug-drug interactions, which can exponentially multiply the risk of QT-related cardiotoxicity as well as adverse effects related to liver, kidney, or other toxicity."

"Moreover, numerous posts indicate that doctors as well as Harmony’s specialty pharmacy are telling patients the opposite: that a CYP2D6 inhibitor like an antihistamine DECREASES pitolisant levels, when in fact the opposite is true."

"According to Solar Surge, which has the most viewed video comparing the Tesla Powerwall II and Generac PWRcell with 7.7k likes, the systems are ranked equally, with the swing i.e. "X-factor" being intangible aspects such as design."

"Since the IPO on the London Stock Exchange in May 2013 and from our average cost basis prior to the position being made public, Platform’s share price has increased 201%, including the attached warrants associated with the offering"

"If Doosan could not convert its most public SOFC MoU into actual SOFC orders with a long-standing partner like Samchully, this implies real-world customer reluctance, technology-readiness issues, or economic disadvantages for SOFC."

"We remain open to working constructively with management and the Board of GoDaddy and will continue to communicate our views, as necessary, to ensure the best interests of all shareholders are properly represented in the boardroom."

"Spruce Point believes there is significant downside risk to RELY’s share price as its premium multiple is reconsidered by institutional investors in the face of our strong evidence to indicate that it is masking growing pressures."

"While Office Depot made some cosmetic changes to its 2012 compensation plan, from mostly solely time-vesting awards to the addition of performance based awards, the reality is that the Company did not address shareholder concerns."

"Management plans to use all free cash flow after dividends to repurchase stock and will increase leverage to 1.8x Lease Adjusted Net Debt / EBITDAR from 1.6x. We estimate share repurchases will be ~$10bn to $13bn from 2012 to 2015"

"To reach any meaningful level of profitability, an investor in Procept must assume the Company will: More than triple revenue; Either be used for nearly 175,000 BPH procedures... or hit a home run in a prostate cancer application."

"From the inception of our short position on May 1, 2012, HLF stock declined by 13% (including dividends), and from our average cost basis prior to the position being made public, HLF stock increased 4%; extreme volatility persists"

"The increasing investment in R&D has apparently not resulted in new litigation worthy patents since public records indicate Tessera has not asserted any internally developed patent from the last several years in recent litigation."

"JANA either does not understand how to value assets in our sector or is intentionally trying to deceive shareholders because it has been unable to convince anyone that its plan to breakup Agrium would create value for shareholders"