Callouts & quotes from 26,677+ activist slides

"Once again, we urge Glencore’s Board of Directors to take all the necessary steps to (1) separate the thermal coal business, in order to accelerate Glencore’s repositioning as a leading pure player in metals, which are at the very core of the green economy transition, and (2) undertake a review of the strategic options for Glencore’s holding in Viterra."

"ROAD’s single biggest customer is the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT), which is ~14% of sales for highway improvement projects. We obtained ROAD’s contracts through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and are concerned by an apparent -22% decline in contract awards in 2024, none of which appears to be captured in the market consensus."

"Spruce Point believes CLEAR can potentially solve its capacity issues by continuing to raise prices, which would weed out some members not wanting to pay. In the extreme, CLEAR becomes like a high-end concierge service for a small member base willing to pay a significant fee. The Company would likely be much smaller than it is today under this scenario."

"I think that this drug is a little 'meh'; no buzz or enthusiasm among sleep doctors; "I haven't had a single patient who said, oh my god, this is so much better"; always part of a cocktail – "never been a first line and even the sales rep told me actually they didn't promote it that way"; reimbursement pressure has "gotten tighter" in the last 6 months."

"In terms of risk identification and prevention measures, if local hotels were indeed willing to provide accommodation that materially facilitated activities such as child exploitation, sexual offences or human trafficking, this would suggest that the vigilance measures described in the vigilance plan may not have been adequate or sufficient in practice."

"Another undercover investigation in the Southeast in May 2022 involving two Generac solar distributors, Powerhome Solar (now Pink Energy), the largest home solar company in the Southeast, and Solar Titan expressed concerns that consumers were being shown potentially misleading economic realities about installing the solar systems and being overcharged."

"However, Pioneer sold a 40% interest in part of its acreage to Sinochem in 2013. For a portion of the purchase price, Sinochem pays 75% of Pioneer's share of the capital spending on those acres for the next couple years. Last year, that payment was $485 million, which reduced Pioneer's Capex and flattered Pioneer's claimed cost per BOE by more than $3."

"BEKE claims that its GTV from new home sales on its platform was RMB 908 billion in Q2-Q3, 2021. Based on the number of new home sales collected and the average sales price reported by BEKE, we estimate that BEKE's actual GTV from new home sales was only RMB 402 million, indicating that BEKE likely inflated new home GTV by at least approximately ~126%."

"I put a lot of money on the fact that dude, I'm probably their number-one guy. I can't imagine somebody more aggressive than I am about this...we probably went balls to the wall to get people on it...100% of every narcoleptic is offered Wakix, absolutely...we are extremely aggressive about offering Wakix...who the hell wouldn't want to write this shit?"

"Spruce Point believes Broadridge should have ceased capitalization of additional costs with the UBS project last year given delays and cost overruns. As a result, had the latest capitalized conversion and start-up costs been expensed, Broadridge would have been in violation of its “Leverage Ratio” covenant, which limits it to 3.5x Total Debt to EBITDA."

"The executive slammed its uptime as “just unacceptable” for inspection equipment: “doesn’t meet what we would normally expect”; “if it was not the only actinic inspection tool in the market, people would definitely go with another supplier”; “struggled with uptime concerns”; “not as sophisticated or as capable as the classic KLA mask inspection tools.”"

"Given the issues we have highlighted regarding Procept's revenue recognition, gross margin accounting, and DSOs, we are concerned that Procept has never had a lead audit partner who has audited a publicly-listed company with more than $150 million of revenue, and its current audit partner has never had a publicly-listed client with any revenue at all."

"We believe owning Mercury at the current price is a terrible risk/reward proposition. The average analyst price target of ~$56/share implies just 9.5% upside, when not a single analyst is questioning the implications of replacing a key technology partner. We believe Mercury remains the most expensive stock in the A&D sector with 50%-60% downside risk."

"Cardiologists noted that PCPs are not qualified to interpret monitor results, an important point given the high rates of disagreement with final reports noted earlier. However, it is easy to see why iRhythm is pushing this treatment protocol, as many cardiologists believed it would result in over-testing, although with little to no impact on outcomes."

"We believe brand identify is a critical success factor in the food space. There’s already evidence prices are deflating, and the long run winner must be able to connect and market to the broadest audience possible. Califia Farms was founded in 2010 and has a nearly identically sized social media following to Oatly, which was founded over 27 years ago."

"Nelson Peltz seeks to understand other points of view as much as he seeks to be heard. He is an active listener. Having been a CEO, Nelson also has a healthy respect for the difficulties and challenges of leading large public companies...Nelson is collaborative by nature – he is always searching for the best ideas. That makes him a great change agent."

"BEKE claimed that its GTV from existing home sales was RMB 908 billion in 2Q-3Q 2021. Yet based on the transaction records collected from its own platform and the price disclosed by the Company, we calculated that BEKE's new home sales GTV was RMB 402 billion in 2Q-3Q 2021, suggesting the Company inflated its new home transaction GTV by at least 126%."

"Moe Tassoudji is also referenced in a lawsuit by West Virginia’s Attorney General in an attempt to prevent payday loan companies from doing business within its state. Payday Loan Resource Center LLC and Moe Tassoudji are called out for attempting to circumvent state law by charging WV customers a monthly fee to help them obtain Internet payday loans."

"With respect, one of the responsibilities of the Senior Independent Director at BP is to “be available to address shareholders’ concerns which have failed to be resolved by the chair, CEO or CFO or for which such contact is inappropriate”, which we believe perfectly describes the current state of the dialogue between Bluebell Capital Partners and BP."

"Spruce Point believes it odd that GFL did not discuss an amended agreement with Waste Management on their Q2 earnings call. At the same time, GFL is introducing greater regulatory uncertainty by acquiring the WCA business. A new "forward-looking" risk factor statement highlighted by GFL may offer clues that its deals are on shaky regulatory grounds."

"According to the independent expert report (set out in full in the Appendix), valuing the OLC stake in Keisei’s balance sheet on a mark-to-market basis, reveals that (1) Keisei’s true equity to asset ratio is nearly double its peers; and (2) its ROE has consistently averaged just 0.6% over the last 5 years, a fifth of that achieved by Keisei’s peers"

"Taking two different approaches (taking Firth Rixson’s EBITDA and multiplying by the corporate multiple and taking Firth Rixson’s NOPAT over Arconic’s WACC) to measuring the extent of the value destruction as a consequence of the Firth Rixson acquisition yields the result that Arconic’s management has destroyed between $1.9 and $2.5 billion of value"

"Given BP's unacceptably dire performance, the abandonment and numerous U-turns in its 2023-2030 strategic plan, the complete loss of strategic direction and the recognition (albeit seemingly deceptively presented) that the communicated EBITDA target no longer applies, BP should immediately present an updated strategic plan to the investor community."

"Recall that Porch has hidden press releases from 2018. We found a notable Overstock.com partnership from 2018 promising “AI” features to offer customers installation and assembly options at checkout. As of our recent check, not only does this option not exist, but Overstock does not even mention Porch under its discussion about assembling furniture."

"BR's CEO cited many records in FY 2022, but what he doesn't point out is that cash flow declined. By adjusting the results for the onerous UBS project investment and COVID-19 effects, as well as the inorganic acquisition contribution from Itiviti, we estimate that BR's core business experienced declining Cash From Operations by approximately -17.2%."

"GINGKO BIOWORKS executive #2 states that they have extensively hacked and re-engineered BLI’s machine to get it to work for certain purposes: re-designed BLI’s chips, optics, and other components; machine they’re using is not typical and has a different architecture; custom-made chips Gingko is using are “totally new” and made specifically for them."

"Former employees state that competing products at 5% of the cost - $100K vs. $2MM - have already rendered BLI obsolete: competitors are not only far cheaper but have higher throughput; another wave of even cheaper disruptors are on the horizon; a former scientist at BLI states he would rather use cheaper alternatives if he was at a biotech customer."

"PGNY is a fertility pure-play in a market where we find fertility benefits becoming largely commoditized, and fast-growing competitors are driving differentiation and competitive advantage through significantly broader treatment coverage capturing the broader lifecycle of fertility, pregnancy, parenting, and ancillary services such as mental health."

"Assuming that on average, a new store costs $26mm to zone, develop and build or approximately $197/sq. ft. (1) and that each Distribution Facility costs $70mm or approximately $50/sq. ft. (1), the replacement cost of Target's owned real estate (excluding the value of its buildings on ground leased land and its existing leases) is approximately $39bn"

"We spoke with over 30 veterinarians about their views on point of care fecal testing. Not only did they generally prefer to continue using reference labs for such tests, but they also indicated a lack of willingness to try new equipment from a supplier other than their current vendor, which doesn't bode well for Heska given its minimal market share."

"If the chart reflected the value in the table, which appears to be the correct one given multiple references in the paper, it would show a quick and sharp reversal of the pitolisant trend after week 3 (visit 5), undermining the results and necessitating data longer than 8 weeks, which the trials clearly try to avoid with the absurdly short duration."

"Procept is currently targeting the highest procedure volume hospitals, which are likely both the most aggressive early adopters of new technology and those most likely to achieve an attractive ROI. We expect Procept's sales efficiency will suffer markedly as it transitions to targeting smaller, lower volume, more geographically dispersed customers."

"While DuPont may portray Trian’s involvement as intrusive, history suggests the result is enhanced performance and long-lasting, collaborative relationships with management and other board members; perhaps best evidenced by Trian’s continuing relationships with Bill Johnson, Arthur Winkleblack and Dennis Reilley (Heinz) and Dennis Kass (Legg Mason)"

"While DuPont may portray Trian’s involvement as intrusive, history suggests the result is enhanced performance and long-lasting, collaborative relationships with management and other board members; perhaps best evidenced by Trian’s continuing relationships with Bill Johnson, Arthur Winkleblack and Dennis Reilley (Heinz) and Dennis Kass (Legg Mason)"

"While DuPont may portray Trian’s involvement as intrusive, history suggests the result is enhanced performance and long-lasting, collaborative relationships with management and other board members; perhaps best evidenced by Trian’s continuing relationships with Bill Johnson, Arthur Winkleblack and Dennis Reilley (Heinz) and Dennis Kass (Legg Mason)"

"Mettler has made two recent moves to acquire real estate. It is clear from footnote disclosures that Mettler is trying to reduce its lease expense, partially improved by the consolidation of two Swiss properties (Uznach and Schwerzenbach) in 2018, but also by the acquisition of properties, which is a way to capitalize the cost on the balance sheet."

"While DuPont may portray Trian’s involvement as intrusive, history suggests the result is enhanced performance and long-lasting, collaborative relationships with management and other board members; perhaps best evidenced by Trian’s continuing relationships with Bill Johnson, Arthur Winkleblack and Dennis Reilley (Heinz) and Dennis Kass (Legg Mason)"

"Technology doesn't work for cell line development, one of its two primary target markets and use cases; issues with contamination, cell growth/behavior, problems with BLI's chip; expert is not surprised BLI has basically killed of cell line development vertical, as the field is already satisfied with competing instruments at a fraction of the cost."

"Former employees stated the equipment is plagued by data integrity issues that make it difficult to trust the output, and that internal BLI users were aware of "way more problems" than the average customer: "data integrity was compromised"; device conflicts; "had to really, really analyze the data deeply and be very, very careful about the output.""

"Spruce Point believes part of what has driven Weis' share price is the belief that its operating cash flow grew 550% YoY in Q1'18. However, by pro forma adjusting results for its aggressive accounting change to accelerate accounts receivables as cash, and a one-time incentive payment (cash flow drag) from Q1'17, we estimate the growth rate was 74%."

"Look carefully: Van Trump’s biography, listed “continuing education” at MIT, but was changed to “post graduate work”. Based on MIT’s website and speaking with the admission’s office, there is no admissions process for its continuing education / professional studies program. Also, why did he then omit graduate coursework at Univ. of Central Florida?"

"While DuPont may portray Trian’s involvement as intrusive, history suggests the result is enhanced performance and long-lasting, collaborative relationships with management and other board members; perhaps best evidenced by Trian’s continuing relationships with Bill Johnson, Arthur Winkleblack and Dennis Reilley (Heinz) and Dennis Kass (Legg Mason)"

"While DuPont may portray Trian’s involvement as intrusive, history suggests the result is enhanced performance and long-lasting, collaborative relationships with management and other board members; perhaps best evidenced by Trian’s continuing relationships with Bill Johnson, Arthur Winkleblack and Dennis Reilley (Heinz) and Dennis Kass (Legg Mason)"

"Based on our analysis of over 30 years of financial data and public information, we question the public benefit of WTRG’s business model, and believe it is a vehicle for insider enrichment that operates akin to a Peter-to-Peter-to-Paul scheme whereby money from new and current investors is used to pay existing investors a highly promoted dividend."

"Looking carefully at Generac's import records for a gauge of its economic activity since Jan 1, 2021, we see that imports sharply declined around the October / November 2021 period. This corresponds with the CEO forming a family foundation and entering into his second stock sale program on November 8, 2021 which wasn't disclosed until Feb 1, 2022."

"Investors seeking to diligence the background of PETQ’s CEO on the Company’s website will find no mention of the more questionable elements of Christensen’s history, including his personal bankruptcy, his ties to the Thomas Petters Ponzi scheme, his unlawful sale of unregistered securities, or association with the accounting fraud at Fleming Corp."

"The need to plan the succession of Mr. Fink, considering potential internal and external candidates and avoiding the risk that the succession process becomes a direct appointment by Mr. Fink of his most trusted lieutenant, makes it extremely urgent to reinstate strong independent oversight within the Board, by separating the roles of Chair and CEO"

"The original entities formed to provide physician consultations were incorporated under the Bailey Health name. However, these entities were managed and owned by HIMS or HIMS management, including CEO Dudum. In addition, we question whether the lack of proper disclosure around the entities' true business purpose was meant to evade CPoM provisions."

"Mailchimp was supposed to create yet another entry point for QuickBooks to penetrate larger mid-market customers. However, a former employee clearly indicates that Mailchimp suffered a similar churn issue as QuickBooks: the product might be OK when starting out, but customers tend to churn as soon as their needs become a little more sophisticated."

"We believe the Street has failed to critically assess the quality and performance of Mettler’s China business, and takes management’s Adj. EPS as given, without stress testing its accounting choices that are geared towards high capitalization of development costs, endless restructuring, and long periods of amortization in excess of industry norms."

"We believe the Street has failed to critically assess the quality and performance of Mettler’s China business, and takes management’s Adj. EPS as given, without stress testing its accounting choices that are geared towards high capitalization of development costs, endless restructuring, and long periods of amortization in excess of industry norms."

"Notwithstanding that Vivendi nominees Anna Jones and Camilla Antonini declared their independence in the candidacy papers, it is our opinion that such independence is doubtful, since they both resigned from their former position in the board — together with other directors — to accomplish what Elliott believes to be a pro-Vivendi oriented outcome."

"The need to plan the succession of Mr. Fink, considering potential internal and external candidates and avoiding the risk that the succession process becomes a direct appointment by Mr. Fink of his most trusted lieutenant, makes it extremely urgent to reinstate strong independent oversight within the Board, by separating the roles of Chair and CEO"

"Note that Nevro can only sell a permanent implant if the patient achieved 50% pain relief during the temporary trial period that lasts a few days, creating a powerful incentive for sales reps to bulldoze the patient into uttering the magic phrase, and creating a patient base in whom the device never worked and will eventually need to be explanted."

"Problems with swallowing Vykat tablets and chewing them instead - contraindicated by the extended-release formulation - appear widespread, leading parents to try clearly dangerous methods, such as getting kids to suck tablets through large boba straws - creating risk of aspiration and choking - which the 4th leading cause of death in PWS patients."

"Of the 2 other deaths, one was a 62-year old who died of pulmonary edema and a 38-year old who committed suicide. Although the reviewer indicated “no clear association” with pitolisant, we note an alarming number of similar adverse events since approval, per the FAERS database, whether pulmonary edema or psychiatric ones such as suicidal fixation."

"Bristol Meyers employee #1 (cont’d): Slammed BLI system as not that new or innovative; has no value proposition for big pharma like Bristol; hasn’t enabled anything meaningful for them as a customer; no one at Bristol seems to care much about the technology; hard sell to scientists internally; already have similar capabilities “much more cheaply.”"

"We believe the Street is structurally misunderstanding the magnitude of the cybersecurity-related costs that Mercury will face going forward, as well as the delays in revenue contract award opportunities it will face in its high-growth “command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence” (C4I) segment – expected to be a $100m business."

"The proxy statement depicts Xylem’s ability to retire Evoqua’s debt and pay transaction costs entirely with cash and equivalents from the balance sheet. However, the balance sheet below also assumes that Xylem has frictionless and unfettered access to all of its cash even though 86% of cash is in foreign markets and may not be freely convertible."

"Assuming Mettler made the $242m of permanent capital injection into the HK entity, our working theory is that it would have experienced a capital shortfall and needed to raise more debt. However, the fact that it did not suggests it maybe shuffling the money around internally, potentially to show auditors in China evidence of accumulated profits."