Callouts & quotes from 132+ activist slides

"This morning, Dexcom management presented and hosted a Q&A break-out session at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. In the break-out session, CFO Quentin Blackford provided incremental color on the company's outlook for 2019, specifically that guidance contemplates $20-25M in revenue headwinds per quarter from the transition from the DME to the pharmacy channel, similar to the ~$20M headwind that the company saw impact sales in 4Q18. This accounts for a ~10% top-line headwind and implies that underlying volume guidance is +25-30%, versus the +15-20% overall revenue guidance issued ($1.175-1.225B)."

"The absolute level of inventory has gone parabolic; is highly abnormal as a percent of revenue versus its historical trend; began to spike right when it entered the EUV market; hit a preposterous 120-135% of revenue in some recent quarters; hit its highest level in the last 2 quarters as a percent of assets; is the most inflated inventory level of any semicap supplier in the world; and has no explanation versus the 5 largest players - triple or quadruple ASML, Applied Materials, Lam, Tokyo Electron, KLA - even though they all make complex, long lead-time tools."

"…with Marcato establishing a 6% position in the stock, we think it is likely that 1) management will be under pressure to realize a more meaningful portion of the cost savings to EPS versus potential reinvestment 2) initiates a dialogue around the strategic value of DECK's non-core brands in its portfolio including potential alternatives 3) creates a greater sense of urgency around shareholder value enhancing initiatives including accelerated share repurchases."

"As we discussed earlier, just 4% of men over 70 have prostates above 100g, and our research found that Aquablation is most competitive versus MISTs and other resective procedures for larger prostates, above 80-100g. Thus, even if we assume 10% of active patients have large prostates, 9.6 million patients, and a 2% annual intervention rate, that implies only 19,200 of the annual 192,000 estimated annual BPH interventions are “best suited” for Aquablation."

"In short, shareholders are demanding change now, and Elliott remains committed to providing them with a clear choice between continued industry-lagging performance under an incumbent leadership team that has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promises, versus fundamental leadership change involving new and proven airline industry executives capable of returning Southwest to its rightful place as an industry leader."

"If I had to pick one platform, say hybridoma versus Berkeley Lights, for our antibody discovery effort, I tend to be more comfortable with the hybridoma approach, just because it's more robust, it's more reliable. Some of the issues we often encounter are the reliability of the instrument, and we haven't really gotten good hits derived from Berkeley Lights."

"The fact that a well-respected medical device company in the diabetes space sees the Libre as sufficiently accurate to include within its own closed-loop system as an exclusive partner gives us confidence that the Libre's slightly higher MARD versus the G5 and G6 is neither a significant technological nor competitive disadvantage."

"Companies that consistently invested their cash flow and resources in a share repurchase program have generated material outperformance over the past 5, 10 and 15 year periods, leading to an average of more than 4% greater annualized returns versus the S&P 500 index and 4x the amount of investor gains over the 15-year period"

"The recent explosion of normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) – an inexpensive way to retrieve DCD organs, the entire use case for TransMedics and driver of its growth – renders TransMedics essentially obsolete, given NRP is $3,000 per case versus $80-90K for OCS plus another $40-100K or more for its NOP procurement service."

"We believe the Company’s stock price underperformance versus both peers and the broader market indices is due to consistently poor financial performance, a lack of credibility from repeatedly failing to deliver on commitments to shareholders, and a history of problematic governance that fails to demand accountability."

"The increase was reflective of building inventory to support net sales growth, as well as $8.7 million related to Naturium inventory, and $27.7 million related to a change in certain vendor arrangements where we now take ownership of inventory at shipment from China versus when it enters our U.S. distribution center."

"Novartis cell and gene therapy (cont’d): Views the machine as a “failed purchase” and would have sent it back if they could; has no value proposition versus traditional flow cytometers that are a fraction of the price and have lower operating costs, can run more assays, and have higher throughput and better data."

"The former NRC Commissioner we interviewed described senior management as "Nuke Bros.," individuals who overhype the benefits of SMRs and possess Silicon Valley mindsets more suited to software development versus the challenges of navigating an uncompromising, capital intensive, highly technical industry."

"The KOL expressed cynicism about the Vykat’s label’s “interesting claim” to not substitute inexpensive diazoxide suspension; questioned why anyone would pay for Vykat versus using the suspension; and expressed “amazement” that ChatGPT spits out an equivalent dosing table for suspension vs. Vykat"

"In short, shareholders are demanding change now, and Elliott remains committed to providing them with a clear choice between continued industry-lagging performance under an incumbent leadership team that has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promises, versus fundamental leadership change."

"In short, shareholders are demanding change now, and Elliott remains committed to providing them with a clear choice between continued industry-lagging performance under an incumbent leadership team that has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promises, versus fundamental leadership change."

"In short, shareholders are demanding change now, and Elliott remains committed to providing them with a clear choice between continued industry-lagging performance under an incumbent leadership team that has repeatedly failed to deliver on its promises, versus fundamental leadership change."

"Quarterly analysis highlights the growing deviation between COGS and inventory and the historically low level of accounts payable / inventory. Moreover, an analysis of sequential and YoY changes in inventory in Q1 2022 versus past Q1 levels shows a sharp departure from historical averages."

"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."

"KLA’s actinic inspection tool was in development circa 2015/2017 but put on hold as they believed the market for such a tool was too small – a prescient view given the insignificant amount of Lasertec revenue that actually comes from EUV actinic tools versus its old DUV and other systems."

"Pre-portioned boxes cost ~50% more than delivered supermarket groceries and even more versus in-store shopping. This premium is inherent to the added logistics layer and widely known (e.g., The Guardian, Reddit threads, viral YouTube clips). No amount of efficiency can close this gap."

"Lasertec’s purported lack of finished goods inventory and reporting methodology is highly abnormal and lacks credibility versus the five largest semicap equipment players, for whom finished goods has averaged 30% as a percent of total over the last 5 years versus 0% for Lasertec"

"Doctors more amenable to using stimulators for PDN – including Nevro loyalists - were vocal in stating that Abbott's DRG is the best waveform for PDN versus high frequency: “without question”; “it’s not even a question”; “100 times better than any other neuromodulation system.”"

"To further emphasize its size advantage versus competitors, IonQ adds other pictures for the avoidance of doubt. Its presentation indicates that its ion trap and vacuum chamber package is only 2 inches wide, versus IBM and Google’s hardware at 6 feet and 20 feet, respectively."

"We believe a meaningful share of NCAA handle is driven by college students, since Kalshi is 18+ versus OSBs at 21+. The result: Kalshi is capturing would-be DKNG users three years before they can legally bet on sportsbooks, potentially hurting DKNG’s future pipeline of users."

"He indicated little interest in prescribing the drug unless a patient pushes for it, and that despite the one Vykat start form submitted, physicians may "try it once or twice" and quickly move on or prescribe generic diazoxide suspension off-label versus chasing insurers."

"Racketeering strikes us an appropriate term given the conduct MGH described – a label another customer used directly: “when you ask questions...you get a bunch of roundabout answers...oh sorry, we mixed up that time zone because it was central times versus eastern time.”"

"Versus the current outstanding offshore debt of $1.893 Billion, the “real” best case net asset value is around $92 million. Divided by the current number of shares outstanding – 245 million - that leaves a share value of approximately C$0.38 at current exchange rates."

"If Dexcom hasn't found a way to sell a competitively-priced down-market CGM profitably after nearly five years of development, we wonder if it will ever find a way to do so, and whether it faces fundamental scale limitations versus Abbott as a one-product company."

"Amgen employee #2 (cont’d) indicates BLI is “probably not” worth buying for single-cell analysis; competing machines are “a small fraction of the cost” with better use cases versus BLI’s complexity; and that the TAM for BLI is a “pretty limited number” of systems."

"Machines made specifically for inspecting photomasks have been Lasertec’s bread and butter since the 1970’s – a small niche versus other segments of the tools market like wafer inspection, defect review, or metrology, hence its historical market cap of $100-200MM."

"He trumpeted the tripling of bookings, and then talked up the Q-Lab deal with Maryland – but failed to disclose the critical fact that the tripling was due to this one particular deal, even representing the increase as due to “customers” versus one related party."

"The lines are broken. The line is not continuous. It’s break, break, break. Look at the short lines - each duration is very short. They apply some current and then pulse - apply current, wait, apply current, wait, versus continuously increasing the current."

"GINGKO BIOWORKS executive #1 challenged the machine’s purported value proposition: doesn't speed up overall workflows for pharma/biotech customers; throughput is a limitation; unclear if/when the Beacon is the right screening tool versus competitors."

"The analysis assumes that pro forma corporate expense in 2006 will be $100 million versus $488 million as projected by Wall Street analysts (which includes $36 million of intersegement eliminations) and that SG&A will decline by 5% or $510 million."

"Others indicated that the award is mainly to spite KLA, given tension over KLA’s pricing, according to a former KLA executive – and that the grudge is Intel’s main reason for buying Lasertec’s tool versus anything special about their technology."

"Starboard's average return on a 13D filing is 26.4% (versus an average of 9.7% for the S&P500 during the same time periods). However, when they have received a board seat, their average 13D return has been 34.5% versus 14.8% for the S&P500."

"A number of KOL’s stated their belief that Nevro’s high frequency mechanism of action is uniquely dangerous versus conventional low frequency stimulators, a finding supported by extensive posts in Nevro patient support groups on Facebook."

"BLI has no value proposition versus competing machines, especially at a $2MM price point; can get “a lot more functionality” from others for a fraction of the price; will get disrupted within 2-3 years by newer single-cell technologies."

"TransMedics strikes us as textbook case whereby it appears that customers are 1) forced to pay for a NOP service they do not want... and 2) to do so at a higher price than if they purchased each service themselves versus a bundle."

"Aldi drives superior retention of its customers. Below, an Earnest Research cohort analysis of new Weis and Aldi shoppers in July 2017 shows 15.9% of Aldi customers continued to shop at Aldi after 12 months versus 10.7% at Weis."

"The ex-employee indicated that the smell of the Vykat table versus placebo unblinded the trial and allowed parents to game the trial; and that individuals inside Soleno were concerned about the impact on HQ-CT hyperphagia scores"

"Instrument is not usable by most scientists; “technically very challenging to use”; using it actually slows down projects versus speeding them up – the key selling point; takes years to learn the ins and outs of the machine."

"Anyone researching these companies would be struck by the imminent disruption coming Twist’s way, and how old and passe Twist’s oligo manufacturing process is versus emerging players already backed with significant capital."

"The machine’s market size is further limited by its “massive throughput limitation,” which makes it painfully slow versus typical flow cytometers and cell sorters and renders it impractical for widespread application."

"Marathon has excelled since it took bold actions to improve operations and governance, resulting in a ~150% relative share-price outperformance versus its peers Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO)."

"Lasertec’s only use case is P2/P3, but it introduces debris in P2 which requires redundant inspection with a backup KLA DUV tool, and it’s too unreliable for P3 – eliminating any reason for its existence versus KLA."

"The Omnia signaled a 180 degree turn in strategy versus the positioning of the past decade: the company would now offer every frequency and waveform under the sun and throw the kitchen sink at doctors and patients."

"Kao could bring its Cash Conversion Cycle and Non-Cash Working Capital (relative to sales) down dramatically and free up over JPY 150bn by 2027 versus 2024 levels that could be better spent on growth initiatives."

"The “delays” appear intentional to force the center to pay for a second TransMedics plane versus traveling with the procurement team, as well as driven by incompetence that may result in stranded and lost organs."

"The result has been extreme shareholder value destruction and sustained share price underperformance versus peers - despite Avantor having a higher mix of recurring revenue and defensive consumables exposure."

"To be conservative, we have assumed that the agencies will take a “De-consolidated View” and Target will maintain solid investment grade ratings in the Mid - High BBB/Baa category (versus A+/A2 rating today)"

"As a standalone entity, SSgA could be better positioned to close the margin gap versus peers, receive a multiple re-rating over time, and may have significant strategic value to other industry participants."

"Analysts and investors currently believe that Hill-Rom shares trade at a 35-40% discount to other med-tech stocks, justified by the Company's relatively slow growth rate versus more tech-oriented peers."

"Despite its uptake, the long-term science around Aquablation remains unsettled. Thus, the procedure receives only a conditional recommendation and a lower evidence level grade versus TURP by the AUA."

"The omission of pharmacokinetic tables is a striking red flag – and the paper used a crude trick by saying “greater than” versus stating how high the levels spiked, much less showing a distribution."

"Legacy DUV sales will not save Lasertec from its EUV failure, as TSMC indicated that at most they may purchase 15 Lasertec DUV tools in coming years versus 10 of MATRICS X8 that they have currently."

"We believe that RINO's SAIC financial statements are largely reliable. The SAIC income statement (below) shows consolidated 2009 revenue of $11.1 million, versus $192.6 million in its SEC filings."

"RTC Plan calls for Crown Castle to achieve a capex revenue ROI in excess of 40% on annual fiber discretionary capex of $600M (versus $1.4B), which turns fiber into a cash flow generative business"

"Said differently, how could new member lives have a utilization that was +6x versus the legacy member lives? This does not pass our sanity check and we call on PGNY management for an explanation."