Callouts & quotes from 485+ activist slides

"This begs three questions: 1) What is the value proposition of the Taexx system if homeowners don't even realize they have the system installed as a home buying benefit, 2) If conventional pest control sales were 90% of the business, and HomeTeam D2D marketers were successful, why does Rollins need Fox's marketers to push the use of Taexx, and 3) If HomeTeam's margins are well below corporate average, why is Rollins pushing investment in lower margin business?"

"Generac's recent investor presentation promotes 11 regional partnerships, two of which it promoted by issuing a corporate press release. Boston Solar issued a press release promoting a partnership. Based on our field research, we find only six (6) still sell Generac's products. Even worse, at two of the distributors marked in red below, we find serious concerns being raised about the business ethics of the partner."

"We find troubling inconsistencies regarding the employee size of TASK's workforce in the 2016 period. Two sources confirm that TASK had between 4,500 and 5,000 employees at the end of 2015. Later, TASK said it hired 5,300 in 2016 to grow to 7,000 employees. However, this would have implied it started with 1,700 employees in 2015, well below the 4,500 – 5,000 claimed earlier. Did TASK experience sizeable turnover?"

"Beginning in 2004, the Azerbaijani government embarked on the privatization of its interest in Azercel. As detailed below, this was unusually structured and could have been devised to enable the theft of state assets, facilitate illegal and highly suspect payments to entities owned or controlled by the Aliyev family, and provide for an ongoing corrupt revenue source in the form dividends and a put option."

"When we try to apply via phone on the mobile website, we got to the page below where we were asked to fill in a cell phone number to receive a verification code. However, after we filled in the cell phone number and clicked “retrieve the verification code” button, nothing happened, meaning we did not receive the verification code no matter what we tried. Multiple attempts failed."

"By resigning on November 27, 2021, former CFO David Barter walked away from over 900,000 options with a $17.10 exercise price. The share price was around $38 at the time, and the options had nearly $20m of intrinsic value. One plausible explanation is that the former CFO thought by the time he could exercise the remaining options, the stock would be below $17.10 per share."

"Everyone again feels that Nevro just cherry-picked their PDN study because diabetics are notoriously not compliant. That's why they have diabetes to begin with. And Nevro cherry-picks picture-perfect diabetic patients that always take the medication, their A1C was always below 7 and that's not realistic. That's not the average American that eats hoagies in Philadelphia."

"In short, unless this sale of 2.2 million cubic meters of broad leaf timber from Yunnan was fulfilled illegally (in excess of quota and without all of the requisite permits) and accomplished with an army of Chinese farmers and shipped out via a secret under-ground train tunnel running below the mountains, it either never happened or was grossly over-inflated."

"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."

"Management touted Antuit as a "high-margin SaaS business" with revenue growth that doubled over a 3-year period. However, after obtaining Antuit's financial statements, we observe that revenue growth flat-lined in the year leading up to the acquisition, and its gross margin at 46.7% is wildly below the 70%-80% margins of typical SaaS companies."

"As of the publication date of a Muddy Waters report, Muddy Waters Related Persons (defined below) are SHORT the securities of or derivatives linked to Eurofins Scientific SE (the “Covered Issuer”), and therefore will likely realize significant gains in the event that the prices of either equity or debt securities of a Covered Issuer decline."

"Notably, not one of the releases below discloses a deal size – and all are silent on the critical question of whether they are undisclosed related parties – that is, whether Ginkgo or its investors like Viking are investors in the entities or are providing proceeds that will be round-tripped back to Ginkgo as “revenue” in coming quarters."

"After the MRC Committee decides on any appropriate adjustments, actual earnings (Actual STIP Earnings) and actual comparable sales results (Actual STIP Comparable Sales) are compared to the Target STIP Earnings and Target STIP Comparable Sales, respectively, and the Corporate Pool Funding (defined below) is calculated as set out below."

"Below is what Aerojet’s balance sheet would look like without the effect of the recent adoption. What’s clear is that its working capital trends are progressively deteriorating. Thus, in addition to the income statement benefit from the accounting change, Aerojet also conveniently appears to be masking balance sheet deterioration."

"Unfortunately, execution has fallen well short of expectations, with last year's annual billings growth below 10% for the first time in the Company's public history, continued negative GAAP earnings, and a share price that is still below where it closed after its first day of trading following its IPO more than six years ago."

"Not all percentages are created equal. The illustrative example below demonstrates why the top 1% of Herbalife’s distributors generate 88% of Recruiting Rewards, and why Herbalife’s compensation plan incentivizes distributors to recruit dramatically more so than other MLMs (there is a greater reward if you can get to the top)"

"Heska's gross margins generally fall between those of high value-added diagnostic equipment companies and pure animal health distributors. Heska's EBITDA margins fall below those of nearly all possible comparable companies. We believe this is indicative of Heska's lack of proprietary technology and poor competitive position."

"We believe the market wildly overvalues the entirety of BR by not considering that 40% of its business is tied to low/no margin distribution revenue and services such as credit statement printing. Its gross margins and capex spending (due to aggressive capitalization of costs) are vastly below financial technology peers."

"Valuing FSCT shares at a more conservative multiple – below that of its purported peer group – and taking into account (A) management’s unreleased guidance and (B) the potential impact of the pandemic on sales, Spruce Point believes that FSCT shares are worth 50%-60% less than the $33 price set by the merger agreement."

"The graver economic issue for public companies is (and always has been) below the gross profit line, where significant non-mining related corporate costs and the constant need to invest in hardware raises the all-in cost to mine bitcoin to a level where nearly all publicly traded miners are effectively unprofitable."

"Spruce Point finds evidence that Generac is aware that its core business is under pressure. Between September and November 2020 it briefly changed a key slide from "Growth Drivers" to "Legacy Growth Drivers." In subsequent versions of its investor presentation, it has deleted the Legacy Growth Drivers slide below."

"GRP asset turns are below the most relevant peers: Novelis, Constellium and Kaiser Aluminum. In fact, GRP is in-line with UACJ (an asset-heavy Japanese company). Based on the 2016 average turns of 2.98 (excluding UACJ), GRP's is capable of supporting ~$6.5 billion of sales, or 34% more than were generated in 2016"

"Perion’s PP&E, operating lease assets, and capital expenditures in relation to its revenues are so far below the advertising technology industry average that it raises material concerns that either they are wildly underspending to develop and maintain their technology assets, or that their sales are inflated."

"Spruce Point does not believe that BR is justified in calling itself a SaaS company with margins that scale. In fact, its financials look nothing like a high quality SaaS company. When we benchmark BR's gross margins and deferred revenue relative to its recurring revenue, we find it to be wildly below peers."

"Using the Wayback Machine, we see that Generac's PWRcell used to directly compare itself against Tesla's Powerwall, and made claims of having the largest storage capacity. The table below was depicted on its website at least through June 2021, but was omitted in Jan 2022 according to the Wayback Machine."

"Latent value released from both right-sizing the OLC stake to below 15%, and future reductions in the OLC Stake can be utilized to enhance Keisei's growth and profitability while also serving the broader interests of the community and customers through a variety of accretive investment opportunities."

"The table below showing Casino's market share versus its "Real" EBITDA (i.e., excluding our estimate of gains on sale in 2014 and 2015) strongly casts doubt on the notion that there's any relationship between Casino's present market share and EBITDA generated by selling products in stores."

"the best approach for the Company and its stakeholders is the immediate exploration of a sale, which, as explained below, would create significant upside for shareholders while creating a more stable footing for all those with a vested interest in Alexion's future – including its patients."

"Notice carefully that BR recently made a few critical changes to its investor communications. Below are changes made to its IR website where we see clear evidence of slowing transaction processing and a removal of the same 80% statistic also struck from the recent 10-K Annual Report."

"VFC provides a white labeled front-end online pharmacy to all of its vet partners (see below). VFC shares a portion of the revenue with the vet, allowing them to recapture a previously lost revenue source. VFC provides recommendations to vets in order to keep pricing competitive."

"Saputo has exhibited the largest increase in Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) among its global set of dairy industry peers. Whereas its DIOs were below average, now they are above industry average. In fact, over the past 4 years, Saputo's DIO have increased by nearly 20 days."

"The Annual General Meeting of Phillips 66 (the “Company”) shareholders is scheduled to be held virtually on May 21, 2025. You can vote your shares using one of the voting options listed below. Elliott urges you to use the GOLD universal proxy card or voting instruction form."

"Our EPS/EBITDA estimates for 2017/2018 are ~3%/-10% below Street consensus. We expect strong top-line growth from North American onshore activity levels (~30%-35% of current revenues), but this will be partially offset by headwinds from offshore activity (~40% of revenues)."

"The itemized list of Business Support Materials below comes from the blog of a former (non- Sales Leader) Herbalife distributor showing nearly $2,000 of expenses in only three months, excluding Herbalife product purchases. The company seldom acknowledges these costs exist"

"It seems clear to us based on the table below, which highlights the significant TSR relative difference between Parkland and its peers pre and post Mr. McMillan's departure, that his departure represented a material and adverse development to Parkland's senior management."

"Assuming 75% of G&A is allocated to the Real Estate and Franchise business, an allocation that McDonald's management indicates is conservative, we indicate below the EBITDA for McOpCo and the Real Estate and Franchise businesses, as depicted in the reported financials."

"Warning: Although CHD runs its equity income through the income statement below the line as non-operating, and claims not to control it, but in 2005, started attributing more of its cash from operations as coming from these entities. So then why isn’t it consolidated?"

"Amcor trades in excess of its long-term forward EV/EBITDA and in-line with its forward EV/Sales multiple. In the context of evidence that both Amcor and Bemis are experiencing declining revenues, we believe Amcor should trade at a multiple below its long-term average."

"CEO Dovigi has a relationship with Campus Auto Collison, which by public photographs, services GFL’s fleet refurbishment. Campus Collision is also friendly with Doug Ford (as seen in the photo below), who the Globe and Mail said has a history with drug dealing."

"These charts represent the aggregate results of a pattern that has been formed over more than a decade – a period during which the current management team and Board consistently and repeatedly sold stock, often at prices well below where the stock trades today."

"The chart below shows the performance since 2010 of four of the EM currencies to which AMT has directional exposure, the Brazilian Real, Indian Rupee, Ghana Cedis, and the South African Rand – a hedge fund using leverage for this trade would have been unhappy."

"With one fatal adverse event in FAERS plus and another six across clinical trials, we arrive at 2.83 fatal events per million daily doses sold – more than 100 times greater than the .025 shown below for terfenadine, and about 300 times greater than astemizole."

"Although there are growing bodies of research dealing with diverse non-imidazole based compounds, they are not free from obstacles in their development pipeline and hence the design of these compounds is complicated by various factors briefly discussed below."

"We show below the remaining three methodologies: normalizing inventory to Lasertec’s historical, “normal” inventory as a percent of sales and assets; and by adjusting it to market value by applying the 50-75% discount quietly being shopped to key customers."

"Initially submitted as an advisory proposal to solicit shareholder feedback, but rejected by Keisei, Palliser's binding proposal to reduce the OLC stake below 15% offered shareholders a voice on capital allocation, whilst preserving management flexibility"

"When individual markets experience structural deterioration, Herbalife will often point to temporary factors to explain the decline. Once a market inevitably falls below a certain sales threshold, Herbalife eliminates all disclosure regarding the market."

"Miraculously, there are still sell-side analysts recommending to buy Zillow’s stock despite the Company eliminating its 2025 revenue target, lowering 2024 revenue guidance and consensus estimates for Adj. EBITDA being way below management’s 2025E target."

"Despite Dell's and its investment bankers' assumption that DVMT would trade within 5-10% of VMW, since its first trading day, DVMT has traded on average 35% below VMW due to an atrocious governance structure put in place by Michael Dell and Silver Lake."

"Even with evidence that Microsoft revenue is falling below plan, Perion retracted Yandex as a search partner, made search its #1 risk factor, and experienced a sharp decline in revenue per day per search, sell-side consensus estimates are still rising."

"We value BR's ICS and GTO business at 1x – 2x and 2.5x – 3.0x 2022E sales, respectively, to reflect its below industry margins, and other challenges we've identified. As a result, our price target is $37.35 – $52.30, implying 65% – 75% downside risk."

"The signatures below differ from those above, as do the accountants' personal seals. The audit firm's seal below may or may not be forged – if it is not forged, it would imply that DGW had some cooperation from the audit firm in forging the report."

"We went and made an account on Data Vault—as anyone can easily do. We discovered that the latest piece of “data” for sale on the “exchange” was a piece of historical weather data that a DVLT employee had posted for sale as a “sample” as seen below."

"Stop lowering the bar with targets such as negative free cash flow and a return on invested capital well below the Company’s estimated cost of capital – unconscionable targets that the Compensation Committee has approved the last two fiscal years"

"Stop lowering the bar with targets such as negative free cash flow and a return on invested capital well below the Company's estimated cost of capital - unconscionable targets that the Compensation Committee has approved the last two fiscal years"

"With potential long-term dividend per share growth in excess of 10%, comparable dividend paying companies across a range of industries suggest CCI should trade below a 4.0% yield, implying at least 27% - 43% upside at a payout ratio of 80% - 90%"

"Spruce Point is hard-pressed to find much differentiation in the scrubs products being offered by FIGS and its competitors. Below is a sample of just a few select competitors. In fact, almost everyone is offering 10-20% off first orders."

"This stark and recent case study brings up several questions: How can a $2bn revenue segment of ADP have margins which are >80% below optimal levels? What does this say about ADP's corporate operating efficiency, culture, and governance?"

"AMC's EBITDAR to Rent is well below O's corporate average of 2.7x and has weakened significantly in the most recent YTD period. The equity markets have already identified the theater level risk: AMC's stock is down ~64% from January 2017"

"As a result of the Company’s subpar performance, Autodesk shareholders have suffered. As shown below, Autodesk’s share price has meaningfully underperformed its peers, the software market, and the broader market over the last five years."

"In 2019 Vireo has come short of its dispensary rollout plan and gross margins have been significantly below expectations (16% in Q3/2019 vs 35% consensus and down 19% sequentially) Buildout in a number of locations have been put on hold."