Callouts & quotes from 1,047+ activist slides

"More than half of last fiscal year’s BEF Foods volume was generated from the high margin, fast-growing and strategically important refrigerated side dish category"

"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"

"Spruce Point observes an alarming departure between revenue growth and inventory growth, which is often a harbinger of material margin compression in the future."

"We believe the time has come for material changes in leadership here as BOX remains in a “no-man’s land” for investors – not enough growth and not enough margin."

"Less than 2 weeks apart, Management showed two different methodologies to showcase the best version of "operating leverage" and "margin improvement" to investors"

"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?"

"Secondly, the company's gross margin declined sequentially in Q3 2019, reaching its second lowest level since the company started reporting earnings in Q3 2013."

"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"

"Arconic is targeting 200 bps of margin expansion over the next 3-5 years in GRP. 159 bps are already baked-in simply as a result of exiting Tennessee packaging"

"We firmly believe that this apparent margin superiority is due to fraudulent manipulation of ANTA's financials through the relationships with the distributors."

"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%"

"Given the differences in equipment and processes, we find it inconceivable that ONP's gross margin could compare so favorably to those of the industry leaders."

"Unilever set bolder margin target and is making faster progress to achieve it... while also delivering and targeting stronger organic sales growth than Nestlé"

"The reality of business in China – particularly retail business – is that competition is far more deleterious to margins than most foreign investors perceive."

"Box then began to realize significant, and sustained, gross margin degradation while repeatedly pointing to “one-time”, “temporary”, and “investment” impacts."

"Incremental volumes will come at very high incremental margins and require minimal capital investment due to significant excess capacity on UNP’s rail network"

"Commit to a mid-30% consolidated EBT margin (35% servicing and 40% Investment Management) by 2014 and to leveraging compensation and non-compensation expenses"

"We conclude that Huishan has fraudulently inflated its gross margins and reported profits since at least FY14 by lying about being self-sufficient in alfalfa."

"Pioneer Power stands out as Limbach’s lowest-margin acquisition, with EBITDA margins meaningfully below those of its prior targets and of the legacy business."

"Our model assumes the base business will earn ~57% EBITA margins through 2020, implying continued spend on promotion and R&D, despite no pipeline contribution"

"The U.S. tower business is highly attractive, highlighted by long-lived physical structures, low churn, built-in price escalators and 95% incremental margins"

"Tough questions aren't often asked when companies can put up accelerating double digit revenue growth while delivering stable margin expansion along the way."

"We will operate a low-cost operating model in all that we do. In essence, we will continue to apply a low-margin operating mindset to a high-margin business."

"We believe ADT's margins will continue to expand over time, as they have done steadily over the past 5 years, driving EBITDA growth in excess of the top-line"

"Once a profitable mid-teens margin business, margins have been falling since 2020 and the past three year average operating margin is now just single digits."

"Guidance vs. Peers: In the past 4 quarters, MPWR's quarterly sales guidance has been within 2% of its midpoint and its gross margin guidance range is 0.70%."

"We believe that without these controlled entities, ANTA’s financials would show materially lower margins, belying the notion that ANTA is a strong operator."

"I don’t even think they’re getting a positive margin on the product if you exclude R&D and G&A. That’s my personal opinion from looking at their financials."

"I don’t even think they’re getting a positive margin on the product if you exclude R&D and G&A. That’s my personal opinion from looking at their financials."

"Heska is trading at a material premium to some of the most innovative diagnostic equipment companies despite having a margin profile closer to distributors."

"GSX is the only publicly traded Chinese online education company that consistently reports bottom line profitability and an overall superior margin profile."

"“One-time” charges recur annually, and yet Avery would like investors every single year to ignore these costs as “adjustments” to increase margins and EPS."

"Despite ranking favorably in this category, we will show why we believe Generac is losing market share and margins are under pressure from price deflation."

"FDO’s substantial gross margin opportunity and high percentage of sales in low-priced necessities, provide a margin of safety against commodities inflation"

"Autodesk produced meaningful margin improvement from FY2018 – FY2021, with adjusted operating margins expanding from (5%) in FY2018 to nearly 30% in FY2021"

"Netflix continues to raise the bar in streaming profitability due to their relentless focus on driving engagement within a defined operating margin target."

"Autodesk produced meaningful margin improvement from FY2018 – FY2021, with adjusted operating margins expanding from (5%) in FY2018 to nearly 30% in FY2021"

"Spruce Point calls on management to explain how all of the direct revenues recognized from the Baker Hughes JV are being recognized at +99% gross margins?"

"Poor M&A and slow response to consumer trends has reduced margins from high teens to single digits over the last four years with no clear turnaround plan."

"MagnaChip recognized revenue on sales of incomplete or unshipped products...and delayed booking obsolete or aged inventory to manipulate its gross margin."

"Observers agree: the large franchisee acquisitions of 2015 destroyed value by diluting ROIC and eliminating a highly valuable, high-margin royalty stream"

"As larger customers account for a greater percentage of PBH's sales, this practice may no longer be able to offset the pressure and margins will decline."

"Moving fixed-price mechanics into ODR undermines this profile, exposing the segment to margin volatility and management subjectivity in cost forecasting."

"But unsustainable levels of high margin trading, securities lending, and net interest revenue swelled... Which masked a significant increase in expenses"

"TWC's OIDBA margin of 39.1% in 2005 historically has been at the high end of the peer group reflecting the well-clustered systems in attractive markets."

"Examining Mettler's peers that disclose internal-use software capitalization in PP&E, we find that it has capitalized an excess amount by a wide margin."

"Lowe's sales/ft² is 25% less than peak levels achieved nearly six years ago. EBIT margins are ~350bps below peak margins achieved nearly five years ago"

"36% incremental margins are not acceptable and not fully explained by the agency transition. We believe Autodesk should target 55% incremental margins."