Contrarian Corpus
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Callouts & quotes from 93+ activist slides

Every emphasised callout and every pulled quote, extracted slide-by-slide. Search by keyword, filter by slide type or by source.

Showing 1–60 of 93 matching "overstated"
callout appendix methodology

"If we adjust Amdocs' EPS for its percentage-of-completion items and 75% of newly-capitalized software, on the assumption that 75% of the change in the unamortized software account represents capitalized costs – we observe that Amdocs EPS could have been overstated by up to 15% if the observed percentage-of-completion items represent improperly pulled-forward sales."

Amdocs Limited · DOX Spruce Point Capital · p. 86
callout other

"Procept’s “utilization” definition is handpieces “purchased”, not handpieces “used”. If handpieces “purchased” overstates known US procedures (as the Company’s proxy disclosure suggests), and if rising DSOs are indicative of hospitals ordering more handpieces than they need, then not only is Procept’s “utilization” metric overstated, it might even be meaningless."

PROCEPT BioRobotics Corporation · PRCT Spruce Point Capital · p. 82
callout other

"This anomaly raises a number of questions, not least as to what is the true value of the assets? Why would MTN sell AMT 51% of the assets for just 42% of the value, it does not appear that they were desperate to do so as there would have been other bidders? Could this mean that the assets are overstated?"

American Tower Corp · AMT Muddy Waters · p. 44
callout villain critique

"When we adjust Samsara's Adj. EBITDA calculation for incremental device cost and sales commission amortization, we estimate it to be overstated by $134 million in the past two fiscal years and that FY2023 adjusted EBITDA margin stands at -22% as opposed to the -10% reported by the Company."

Samsara Inc. · IOT Spruce Point Capital · p. 33
callout villain critique

"Given that Kangmei’s ex-Chairman was sentenced to 12 years in prison and the company allegedly overstated its cash balance by $4.3B “using false documents,” we were further stunned to see a 2017 press release from Twist stating that Kangmei Group was actually an investor in the company."

Twist Bioscience · TWST Scorpion Capital · p. 226
callout other

"Spruce Point observes a concerted effort by Avery over the years to provide less and less disclosure to investors. Notably, we see omission of six (6) key disclosures that directly affect revenue drivers. We believe this bolsters our concern that organic revenues may be overstated."

Avery Dennison Corporation · AVY Spruce Point Capital · p. 32
callout villain critique

"We immediately encountered articles discussing GF Securities involvement in a $12.7B fraud in China, centered on one of China’s largest publicly traded pharmaceutical firms, Kangmei Pharmaceutical, which allegedly overstated its cash balance by $4.3 billion “using false documents.”"

Twist Bioscience · TWST Scorpion Capital · p. 224
callout villain critique

"In our opinion, MAXR’s 2018 Adj. EPS expectation of $4.75/sh is pure fiction. The Company has made numerous aggressive accounting choices that inflate its Non-IFRS results. Based on our forensic review, we estimate EBITDA and EPS are overstated by 17% and 79%, respectively"

Maxar Technologies · MAXR Spruce Point Capital · p. 11
callout sop buildup

"After we make this final adjustment to the 223 million Rmb deferred revenue balance from before, we get 156 million Rmb of deferred revenue at fair value—or, just $24 million. Based on the calculations we made, TAL overstated Firstleap’s deferred revenue by 90%."

TAL Education Group · TAL Muddy Waters · p. 6
callout transition

"10. Aside from its “customers” being related parties and effectively fake, we believe that Ginkgo takes the scam into even more aggressive territory by booking revenue from them that is simply fictitious, overstated, and/or based on overcharging."

Ginkgo Bioworks · DNA Scorpion Capital · p. 114
callout precedent table

"The SEC's order finds that MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp. overstated revenues for nearly two years in response to immense pressure placed on employees each quarter to meet revenue and gross margin targets that had been communicated to the public."

Lasertec Corporation · 6920 Scorpion Capital · p. 88
callout other

"Based on the problematic Site Sharing portfolio, we believe that the above market rent that AMT is currently receiving, which amounts to 43% of operating revenue, is unsustainable and any average rent metrics based off this will be overstated."

American Tower Corp · AMT Muddy Waters · p. 40
callout ceo quote

"Warning: Oatly’s Gross Margin is overstated because it fails to include outbound shipping and handling costs. After a review of many public companies in the dairy, frozen and packaged foods space, we find this to be industry standard."

Oatly Group AB · OTLY Spruce Point Capital · p. 60
callout villain critique

"In addition, the Company improperly accounted for other items that overstated net income, including the estimation and recording of self-insurance reserves, its recognition of equipment rental revenues, and its income tax accounting."

XPO Logistics, Inc. · XPO Spruce Point Capital · p. 35
callout ceo quote

"Leidos discloses that $166m of its cash is really earmarked for “outstanding payments” and are included within cash and cash equivalents. Market data providers use an incorrect and overstated cash amount to derive Leidos’ valuation."

Leidos Holdings, Inc. · LDOS Spruce Point Capital · p. 74
callout villain critique

"Based on our estimated reported dairy farm construction costs, these estimates suggest that since going public, Huishan has overstated average dairy farm CapEx by one third (~RMB 29 million) to over one half (~RMB 54 million)."

callout villain critique

"The IFRS deferred tax liability on the balance sheet of Toyota Industries is mechanically overstated by >¥800bn (pro forma as of January 16, 2026) – equating to an excess IFRS book value deduction of ~¥2,700 per share"

Toyota Industries Corporation · 6201 Elliott Management · p. 28
callout peer gap

"Compared to its DTC peers, FIGS allocates nearly all fulfillment and distribution expenses to the operating expense line items, instead of COGS. This results in FIGS gross margins being overstated relative to peers."

FIGS, Inc. · FIGS Spruce Point Capital · p. 38
callout valuation reveal

"Xerox Board's Illustrative Value is 60% overstated, and the outcome will be far worse if the proposed synergies are not realized or – like Xerox's recent "cost savings" – are offset entirely by additional cost creep"

Xerox Corporation · XRX Carl Icahn · p. 17
callout villain critique

"Cumulatively, the amount of taxes under-reported on the income statement relative to cash taxes paid is ~$142m. Therefore, we argue that Net Income has also been cumulatively overstated by the corresponding amount."

Resideo Technologies, Inc. · REZI Spruce Point Capital · p. 73
callout villain critique

"In reality, Samsara’s profitability has been dramatically overstated due to the Company’s questionable accounting policies and assumptions related to its average customer life and connected device life of 5 years."

Samsara Inc. · IOT Spruce Point Capital · p. 28
callout ceo quote

"Spruce Point interviewed a former Stryker M&A professional who provided some startling insights about Stryker having been burned before by acquiring overstated inventory and performing limited due diligence."

Stryker Corp. · SYK Spruce Point Capital · p. 69
callout kpi overview

"The market has historically valued software companies with a material hardware business at lower multiples because their revenue ramp is overstated and their gross margin profile is structurally inferior."

Samsara Inc. · IOT Spruce Point Capital · p. 17
callout villain critique

"Not only is the overall addressable market Astra has promoted vastly overstated – Astra's development path is on the wrong side of key trends within the industry: larger payloads and reusability."

Astra Space, Inc. · ASTR Kerrisdale Capital · p. 12
callout villain critique

"Because ELF's imported inventory values should have remained roughly constant, if we start reconciling inventory from Q3 FY24, which we'll assume is not overstated, we see a hole quickly build."

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. · ELF Muddy Waters · p. 30
callout villain critique

"Monster does not say what the revenue contribution from these purchased customer relationships is which suggests that its organic revenue growth could potentially be challenged and overstated."

Monster Beverage Corp. · MNST Spruce Point Capital · p. 66
callout villain critique

"When aggregated and compared to IQ's F-1 prospectus, we found that the deferred revenues reported to the SEC were overstated by 261.7%, 165.5% and 86.2% in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively."

iQIYI, Inc. · IQ Wolfpack Research · p. 8
callout villain critique

"If AMR is over-reporting production, there is a strong possibility its revenues and coal inventories are overstated. Overstated inventories can also to overstated margins and profitability."

Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. · AMR Spruce Point Capital · p. 18
callout villain critique

"Phillips 66 has materially overstated the costs associated with a spin or sale of its Midstream business to cloud the simple, clear math showing the potential value unlock of a separation."

Phillips 66 · PSX Carl Icahn · p. 24
callout other

"If PowerSchool was previously ignoring discounts in reporting its revenue, this could suggest that previously recorded revenue has been overstated and future revenue growth may disappoint."

PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. · PWSC Spruce Point Capital · p. 79
callout villain critique

"Phillips 66 has materially overstated the costs associated with a spin or sale of its Midstream business to cloud the simple, clear math showing the potential value unlock of a separation."

Phillips 66 · PSX Elliott Management · p. 23
callout villain critique

"If in fact Oatly's revenues are overstated, costs understated, and net income overstated, one way to balance inflated profits on the asset side of the balance sheet is to inflate capex."

Oatly Group AB · OTLY Spruce Point Capital · p. 8
callout villain critique

"When we adjust Samsara's COGS to assume a three-year amortization period for device costs, we find that gross margins have been overstated by well over 600bps the past two fiscal years."

Samsara Inc. · IOT Spruce Point Capital · p. 10
callout valuation reveal

"We estimate that Mettler's Adj. Diluted EPS is $1.90 - $2.23 (8.3% - 9.8%) overstated due to aggressive capitalization policies and failures to recognize inventory obsolescence charges."

Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. · MTD Spruce Point Capital · p. 134
callout other

"We therefore divide the estimated Q2 FY25 overstated inventory amount, which is a cumulative number, by ELF's reported gross margin of 71%. This provides the implied overstated revenue"

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. · ELF Muddy Waters · p. 32
callout villain critique

"Based on our analysis of the project economics underlying the UBS Wealth Management partnership, we believe the project should be impaired and that BR’s earnings are vastly overstated."

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. · BR Spruce Point Capital · p. 39
callout other

"We believe that RUN uses disallowed costs as part of its tax basis. Our Adjusted Cost Approach valuation suggests that RUN’s Cost Approach Tax Model valuation is overstated by 25.7%."

Sunrun Inc. · RUN Muddy Waters · p. 16
callout sop buildup

"If we assume that MPWR's inventory metrics should be in line with industry peers, and that $245 - $265m of revenue is overstated, it implies ~$93m of inventory is also overstated."

Monolithic Power Systems · MPWR Spruce Point Capital · p. 30
callout villain critique

"We estimate that, with proceeds from asset sales deflating reported capex, Amdocs' free cash flow has been overstated by between $5M and $30M on an annual basis since FY 2016."

Amdocs Limited · DOX Spruce Point Capital · p. 56
callout peer gap

"For every dollar in biological assets, Trulieve is able to generate the least amount of dollar sales. This strongly suggests that the mark-up on these assets is overstated."

Trulieve Cannabis Corp · TRUL Grizzly Research · p. 21
callout thesis headline

"If COGS are overstated in this way, then profits and sales must also be greatly overstated – over the preceding three quarters, possibly by hundreds of millions of dollars"

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. · ELF Muddy Waters · p. 5
callout other

"In this city alone, site visits and field work indicate that BEKE overstated the store count by 59% by keeping branch SAIC registrations current while not actually stores."

KE Holdings · BEKE Muddy Waters · p. 24
callout sop buildup

"Our analysis focuses on a "Net Operational Profit Margin" to isolate float income (including the overstated credited yield) and to properly account for corporate expenses"

callout villain critique

"Because Huishan has in fact been purchasing substantial quantities of alfalfa from third parties, its profits have been fraudulently overstated by a massive amount."

callout villain critique

"After adjusting for our estimate of aggressively booked segment income, we find that Burford's combined 2019 operating profit is overstated by approximately 8.0%."

Burford Capital · BUR Muddy Waters · p. 7
callout villain critique

"Warning: Adjusted Net Income for 2018 Is Overstated By $14.3m ($73.7 – $59.4 Revised) Resulting In Adjusted EPS of $5.90 vs. $6.06 Reported (2.7% Overstated)"

Avery Dennison Corporation · AVY Spruce Point Capital · p. 75
callout villain critique

"As a result, not only did Burford's cash receipts decline by -11.8% YoY, but Burford overstated its 2019 cash receipts by 14.5% by changing their definition."

Burford Capital · BUR Muddy Waters · p. 4
callout villain critique

"To us, the evidence suggests TMC overstated its NORI exploration expenditures in its SEC filings to give investors a false scale of its operations."

TMC the metals company Inc. · TMC Bonitas Research · p. 7
callout other

"The net effect of this extra year of customer life on the books is that we estimate EHTH’s constrained LTV for MA members is overstated by 28.2%."

eHealth Inc. · EHTH Muddy Waters · p. 6
callout other

"Looking at this analysis, we don't know if PGNY overstated the success of its selling seasons or understated the churn it was suffering?"

Progyny, Inc. · PGNY Spruce Point Capital · p. 35
callout villain critique

"In the critical new home sales category, the primary driver of revenues, we estimate that BEKE overstated GTV by ~126% in 2Q-3Q 2021."

KE Holdings · BEKE Muddy Waters · p. 5
callout villain critique

"These "synergies" are overstated and could largely be recreated through commercial contracting or industry-standard arrangements."

Phillips 66 · PSX Carl Icahn · p. 29
callout villain critique

"These "synergies" are overstated and could largely be recreated through commercial contracting or industry-standard arrangements."

Phillips 66 · PSX Carl Icahn · p. 30
callout villain critique

"These “synergies” are overstated and could largely be recreated through commercial contracting or industry-standard arrangements."

Phillips 66 · PSX Carl Icahn · p. 28
callout villain critique

"These "synergies" are overstated and could largely be recreated through commercial contracting or industry-standard arrangements."

Phillips 66 · PSX Elliott Management · p. 28
callout villain critique

"These "synergies" are overstated and could largely be recreated through commercial contracting or industry-standard arrangements."

Phillips 66 · PSX Elliott Management · p. 29
callout villain critique

"These "synergies" are overstated and could largely be recreated through commercial contracting or industry-standard arrangements."

Phillips 66 · PSX Elliott Management · p. 27
callout villain critique

"Spruce Point believes that Remitly's cash (and valuation) is likely to be overstated because it includes cash held for clients."

Remitly Global, Inc. · RELY Spruce Point Capital · p. 74
callout villain critique

"It appears to be more than a casual mistake that Revenues and Net Income were overstated by 68% and 98%, respectively in 2018."

Leidos Holdings, Inc. · LDOS Spruce Point Capital · p. 35
callout kpi overview

"Mettler's leverage is greater than it appears given our belief that EBITDA is overstated from cost capitalization strategies."

Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. · MTD Spruce Point Capital · p. 135