Callouts & quotes from 10,384+ activist slides

"“LLZO is a garnet and it's heavy. It's got heavy elements in it and so the watt hours per kilogram of a battery, everything else the same, would be worse than their competitors maybe by 10% even or maybe 15%. The implication is that's not competitive. It's like weighting cars. If you need to put in a lead-acid battery, you're not happy. If you can put in a lithium battery, you're happy. That exaggerates it, but that's the point.” — Former employee"

"Relative to our coverage group, we think that PSX (a) has a strong portfolio of assets, (b) checks all of the boxes in terms of management quality and balanced capital allocation, and (c) has an increasingly compelling valuation versus both the majors and the refiners. — J.P. Morgan, October 30, 2018; Furthermore, PSX’s refinery assets are some of the best-in-class vs overall industry with a Nelson Complexity Index of 11.1. — UBS, January 26, 2021"

"But I think there's maybe two points to mention. One is comparisons. You know we get into some much more difficult comparisons especially in a multi-year stack basis, I mean if you start to think about multi-year stacks Q2, Q3 they get a little bit more difficult and then even just a one year stack you know the fourth quarter of last year we grew organically by 8%, that's going to be a more difficult comparison for us — CFO At Conference, May 2019"

"But I think there's maybe two points to mention. One is comparisons. You know we get into some much more difficult comparisons especially in a multi-year stack basis, I mean if you start to think about multi-year stacks Q2, Q3 they get a little bit more difficult and then even just a one year stack you know the fourth quarter of last year we grew organically by 8%, that's going to be a more difficult comparison for us — CFO At Conference, May 2019"

"Thanks for the question. So on OrthoSensor, obviously, it's new under the belt here a few weeks. And so it's not something that we have fully developed all of the various plans in terms of how we're going to market for any of the products at this point in time. — IR Wells, Q4 2020 Conf Call; Nothing new to report at this point. I mean, obviously, it's still fairly new in terms of the acquisition into the organization. — CEO Lobo, Q2 2021 Conf Call"

""they don't have it now, without giving too much info on that - they don't have it...it will require replacement of their optics because...if they open up the aperture, the optics will block....they cannot do it right now...they need...a different curvature, different figure elements - it's a massive upgrade." — Ex-KLA executive. "just a press release to match the shipment of the first [ASML] High-NA system to Intel." — Global Foundries executive."

""2021 has been the most successful selling season in our history, producing a record number of new clients and members" — David Schlanger, 3Q21 Transcript; "[in 2022, we] secured a record 105 new client commitments during the selling season representing an additional 1.2 million covered lives." — Peter Anevski, 3Q22 Transcript; "This year is, if you will [is] back to normal from an average client size perspective." — Peter Anevski, 3Q21 Transcript"

"I wouldn't be surprised...that would not surprise me at all...we have been very clear with them...we don't agree with their business practices...we want nothing to do with them. TransMedics tried to get us to store their devices for them here also...they alleged that without that their service wouldn't work...we've always been very upfront...we're not going to engage in anything like that. — Executive at a West Coast OPO, longtime industry veteran"

""Then in animals - we didn't do that in humans - we looked at how it passed the blood-brain barrier and how much landed into the brain. This is by post-mortem extraction. And that's where you look at the problems with variability in passing the blood-brain barriers, so the effect is not reached because you don't reach where the receptors are." — Senior pharmaceutical executive/scientist, previously at Abbott and now at another major pharma company"

"We are upgrading shares of Plug to Buy (from Neutral) as the company passes an inflection point. We expect valuation to be driven by visibility for Plug continuing on impressive revenue growth trajectory, outlook for record revenue and EBITDA in 4Q19, and material EBITDA profitability in 2020. The outlook for 2020 where we forecast material EBITDA production of $35.5m suggests Plug is clearly passing an inflection point. — Sell-side analyst report"

"“Morgan Stanley provided an update for investors Wednesday and advised them to buy into the weakness on both as they still detect "multiple avenues for both operators to benefit regardless of where this outcome ends." Morgan Stanley observes more than 40% upside on both DraftKings and Flutter to its respective price targets of $52 and $352. For Morgan Stanley, the sudden tumble in share prices looks like a knee-jerk overreaction.” — Morgan Stanley"

"They [bankers] walk around the Street... they're looking for some sucker to take paper on a non-controlling passive basis. I mean, you look around the room, who are you going to call? It's not like Annapolis [HASI's headquarters] is a destination location for money-raising. So, I just felt like that was marginal and these are widely shopped deals that other more informed investors wouldn't take because of the low yields. — Former HASI Executive A"

""If you're not familiar with exocad, they're a 10-year-old innovative software company based in Darmstadt, Germany, growing approximately 20% annually." — Joseph Hogan – Align Technology, CEO; "Trying to make it smoother to integrate Invisalign with dentists restorative treatment. And get more involved with the restorative nuts and bolts. It's a risky play I think with all the other restorative platforms with scanning and milling." — Orthodontist"

"“We are surprised the Company’s investor presentations continue to center on tactical efforts, like FastBreak Lunch and Wing Tuesday, and secondary strategic priorities, like international development and new concepts, rather than full explanations for why traffic is declining, how costs will be reduced or why the business model is appropriate. It is not clear to us the issues and alternatives are fully understood” — Chris O’Cull, Keybanc, 2/7/17"

""The instrument itself, any sort of cell culture, is open to contamination... we struggled with that... There are definite weak points from a biological standpoint that would potentially encourage contamination." — Former BLI scientist; "this is a contamination nightmare, like there are lots of places for things to get in... it was something that was always a big concern for us when we were taking cells off the instrument." — Former BLI scientist"

"“Our two businesses are complementary, but quite different, so our guiding philosophy will be to avoid unnecessarily disrupting that. The idea is to have them function as a separate business unit at the outset, allow them to focus all their attention on growing their CTV business, while we take on their traditional video inventory--an area that we’ll be able to monetize quite well given our programmatic expertise and scale.” — Management Response"

"“when I joined, my phone just kept ringing, saying are you crazy? That man is insane.” — Former executive in a key reimbursement role; “he was just like, I will do anything that I can to not use this device.” — Former executive in a key reimbursement role; “the public shaming was the topic of conversation...it was just the buzz of the meeting...a cloud as was cast...over the enthusiasm of using OCS.” — Former executive in a key reimbursement role"

"we are on the fence about starting vykat since reading about the increased swelling, need for lasix probably; my daughter is 14 and we are week 7...we hit a speed bump...her ankles are swollen and glucose has been slowly creeping up; we have the fluid retention going on...[our son] started a diuretic yesterday...we stopped Vykat; per doctor we stopped Vykat to do Lasix...I’m waiting to hear from the Vykat people...a mess. — Facebook group members"

"“...she is totally on board with doing whatever it takes...she is really pushing hard. And I’ve had two or three parents who said that she's reached out to them personally to tell them about this drug. And thankfully, they are very savvy parents...and they said, but the risk of diabetes...she definitely is invested in a way I’ve never seen physicians invested, to be honest with you.” — KOL in the PWS field; involved with Soleno’s clinical program"

"“I don’t see that in the near future...I don’t because there’s no efficacy”; “it would be perceived very negatively...I don’t think you’re going to see many payers covering that right now...I don’t see it...I can tell you that Anthem Elevance is not one of them”; “this is going to be very difficult...there’s just limited clinical data...that’s a big red flag, especially at this astronomical price.” — Vice President at Elevance (previously Anthem)"

""Avgi finds it important to stress that the development workers have no cause for concern. "In deals like this the workers are sometimes a little anxious. I wish to make it very clear: one of the reasons for the deal is the technology, and so the development workers in Israel and Bulgaria should be confident that we shall continue to grow and develop new products."" — SafeCharge CEO (Source: "Safecharge was my baby", Globes Israel, May 23, 2019)"

"Defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, adjusted to exclude share-based compensation charges, restructuring and realignment costs, special charges and gain or loss from sale of businesses. Adjusted EBITDA replaced Adjusted Operating Income in 2022 which is defined as operating income, adjusted to exclude restructuring and realignment costs and special charges. — Xylem Proxy Statement filed April 3, 2023"

"I don't think so—very fair comment. We're a bunch of nerds who tend to be power users and have an in-house automation team with hardware engineers and software engineers. We tend to not shy away from building or at least integrating some of our own stuff and really committing some spend so that a vendor will make something that meets our needs. We've done the same thing with some of our automated fermentation systems. — Gingko Bioworks Executive"

""SK Foods routinely falsified the lab test results for its tomato paste... ordered employees... to falsify tomato paste grading factor, and... lied about its product’s percentage of natural tomato soluble solids, mold count, production date, and whether the tomato paste qualified as 'organic.'" — US Department of Justice; "We pack garbage for them anyway and they always take it, but we’ve hit new lows." — Randall Lee Rahal, Director of SK Foods."

"“Fraud on the court” occurs “where it can be demonstrated, clearly and convincingly, that a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.” — Triffin v. Automatic Data Processing, Inc., 394 N.J. Super. 251 (App. Div. 2007)"

""[W]e've gotten more and more comfortable that we build these and other carriers, so we get an anchor built, that is what we call the first carrier. We build it, we get about a 6% to 7% return on that capital for the first carrier, which is not over our cost of capital. But when we add a second tenant to that, which happens over the course of about 10 years in our business, our returns go to the 10% to 12% range." — CFO Dan Schlanger, June 2020"

"Furthermore, PSX’s refinery assets are some of the best-in-class vs overall industry with a Nelson Complexity Index of 11.1 — UBS, January 26, 2021; Relative to our coverage group, we think that PSX (a) has a strong portfolio of assets, (b) checks all of the boxes in terms of management quality and balanced capital allocation, and (c) has an increasingly compelling valuation versus both the majors and the refiners. — JP Morgan, October 30, 2018"

""Mr. Bolloré was so concerned about the [Florange Act] vote that he nearly tripled his stake in Vivendi this year, raising it in four increments to 14.5 percent from around 5 percent, a holding with a market value approaching €5 billion, or $5.4 billion." — The New York Times, April 17, 2015; "Instead, by supporting double voting, he casts himself as the wealthy insider trying to grasp greater control." — The Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2015"

"Analyst: ...is that net of the legacy attrition that you could be losing in another contract? So I'm just trying to understand, are those net wins? Kay Meggers, EVP GRP: These are the numbers for those respective contracts. Analyst: ...are you giving us sort of a number that is additive to your revenue or could there be some attrition from the loss of the last contract? Kay Meggers, EVP GRP: [T]his is the gross number.... — Kay Meggers, EVP GRP"

"Q: If the margins on this business are so good, why is this company exiting the business? A: It's not exiting. It's relocating its business to Shandong province. Q: Why aren't they moving the equipment? A: It feels its better to buy new equipment in Shandong. Q: But presumably this is expensive equipment if ONP is paying around $13 million. How could buying new equipment be more sensible than transporting it? A: I don't know. — Narrator/Mr. Yen"

""No, it's not. What you'll see used is a traditional specialty finance company investment model where you use core earnings. All specialty finance companies and really all banks use core earnings. Core earnings takes all interest income, subtracts interest expense, subtracts operating expenses and then divides that by equity and that is what the core return on equity and that's how these businesses really get valued." — Former Sunnova Executive"

""No, it's not. What you'll see used is a traditional specialty finance company investment model where you use core earnings. All specialty finance companies and really all banks use core earnings. Core earnings takes all interest income, subtracts interest expense, subtracts operating expenses and then divides that by equity and that is what the core return on equity and that's how these businesses really get valued." — Former Sunnova Executive"

""The incredible multi-use spray lubricant that's TWICE AS GOOD!" — Justice Brothers; "This is the best penetrating oil I have ever used." — Amazon Reviewer; "Friends don't let friends use wd40." — Amazon Reviewer; "JB-80 is twice as good. It's teflon based, last twice as long and viscosity is thicker. It's much better." — Hardware Store Owner; "It's like an LED light blub. Higher investment up front but last more than twice as long." — Customer"

"“We believe our focus on nutrition and botanical science and our efforts at combining our internal research and development efforts with the scientific expertise of our Nutrition Advisory Board and the educational skills of the Nutrition Advisory Board and the resources of the UCLA Lab should result in meaningful product differentiation and give our distributors and consumers increased confidence in our products.” — 2011 Herbalife Annual Report"

""Spinal cord stim has always been approved or used for neuropathy. PDN is just another smoke and mirrors way for Nevro to position their device." — Medtronic regional manager in charge of a large multi-state territory; "Doctors can just say something is neuropathy." — Former Nevro sales executive; "We've been stimulating for diabetic neuropathy for forever, and no, I don't think it's going to be a game changer." — Former regional sales director"

""Now our direct neighbor there is U.S. Gold Mining Inc., and they are onto the Whistler porphyry copper deposit, of course, copper gold. We have that same geology." — Nova CEO, Nov 13, 2024. "The Whistler Gold-Copper Project is located within the West Susitna Mineral District, which contains established gold, copper and silver mineral resources, plus potential for other critical metals such as antimony and tungsten." — USGO CEO Smith, May 2025."

"I was in a recent operating room where TransMedics was there. It was a DCD, and the patient ended up not passing, but because the time frame expired, they went to another center and TransMedics did contact that center. I'm not 100% sure how the OPO was involved in that, but TransMedics was definitely contacting other centers, saying if we go past 120 minutes... — Organ procurement technician at a high volume Northwest academic transplant center"

"The development of H3R antagonists was complicated by the similarities between the pharmacophores of H3R and human Ether-à-go-go related gene (hERG) channel blockers, a fact that probably prevented promising compounds from being progressed into the clinic. — Abstract from Using Electrophysiology and In Silico Three-Dimensional Modeling to Reduce Human Ether-à-go-go Related Gene K+ Channel Inhibition in a Histamine H3 Receptor Antagonist Program"

"Glass Lewis has severe reservations about supporting the Company's remuneration policy. As highlighted above, we are severely concerned by the quantum of the potential payout under the Company's Special Award; further, we are troubled by the fact that the Company did not appear to have taken into account significant shareholder dissent on the plan, and did not propose any modification to its terms. — Glass Lewis, Telecom Italia Proxy Paper 2017"

"“In 1991, scientists at Bell Labs published a paper demonstrating the possibility of using a wavelength of 13.8 nm for the so-called Soft X-Ray Projection Lithography... In 2001 SVG was acquired by ASML, leaving ASML as the sole benefactor of the critical technology...this made the once small company ASML the world leader in the production of scanners and monopolist in this cutting edge technology.” — Wikipedia on the history of EUV lithography"

""So there are a lot of benefits of separation. It really does allow a level of focus and a level of scrutiny in specific areas that you might not have as part of a broader conglomerate. And furthermore, we really get to optimize things for us specifically versus a broader organization. And so part of the reason we're going to be able to expand margin are some of the benefits of becoming a stand-alone company." — GE HealthCare (January 9, 2024)"

"Is there ever a situation where a cell can exhibit more than 100% of its discharge energy, or is that impossible by definition, in a typical cycle life test (such 80% DoD)? Yes. Of course. This all depends on what one defines as the 100% depth of discharge (DoD). Imagine that the cell is capable of doing 122mAh, but one only define 61mAh as 100% depth of discharge (utilization rate 50%) - such tricks are entirely possible. — Solid-state expert"

""We continue to focus on food as a priority . . . [W]e've nearly doubled our commitment to food over a five to seven-year timeframe." — Gregg Steinhafel, CEO, Target 2Q'07 Earnings Call, 8/21/07; "We also continue to invest in our food offering in recognition of its importance in driving greater frequency, increasing guest loyalty, and making Target a preferred shopping destination." — Gregg Steinhafel, CEO, Target 4Q'08 Earnings Call, 2/24/09"

"The call for a reduction in the use of plastic grows louder each day. Unfortunately, there is no single solution and switching to biodegradable materials or any other single-use material will not be the silver bullet. Widespread plastic pollution is a result of systematic problems that include over-consuming behavior, reliance on the single-use connivance, and a non-sustainable linear model that ignores end-of-life waste disposal. — Greenpeace"

"“...further unknown to physicians and patients, the Zio AT failed to consistently provide ‘near real-time’ notifications because it regularly had a ‘lag time’ of around four hours or more. FE 3—a former iRhythm Zio AT technician from before the Class Period through November 2022—explained that because of this lag time, the Zio AT was not live and did not notify physicians of arrhythmias right away.” — Glazing v iRhythm Second Amended Complaint"

"General Recommendation: generally, vote FOR shareholder proposals requiring that the Board Chair position be filled by an Independent Director, taking into consideration the following: the scope and rationale of the proposal; the company's current Board leadership structure; the company's governance structure and practices; company performance; and any other relevant factors that may be applicable. — ISS United States - Proxy Voting Guidelines"

"On the supply front, we continue to work with our contract manufacturers to draw down component inventories, and we are substantially complete with renegotiations of long-term supply commitments. In Q4, we renegotiated 2021 agreement with a key electronic component supplier, incurring a $10 million expense. The revised agreement cancels a portion of the multiyear volume commitment and increases purchasing flexibility. — Q4 2023 Conference Call"

""The current secondary market structure works well for community banks and credit unions and allows them to meet their borrowers’ needs. Restructuring of this system is unchartered and untested and therefore raises numerous questions regarding fees and functionality when applied to the real-world marketplace." — Credit Union National Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, 4/11/2014"

"That model only works for a limited number of indications. It works well for ED medications and for hair loss...where a lot of things are just kind of protocol and routine - it's either you qualify or you don't. And they're more a low risk type of prescription. But it doesn't work for everything. That high throughput prescribing only works for a limited number of conditions and prescriptions. — Spruce Point Interview With Former HIMS Physician"

"“When I was there, there was very little focus on safety. But over time we saw significant improvements. I don't know if they've taken a step back. This is something that is a negative, it's hard to get turned around. if you get a trend going the wrong way. It's not overnight that it gets going in the right direction. If it becomes a talking point on the next call, a multiperiod issue, I agree it would be a concern.” — Former Rollins Executive"

"Pest control companies are getting 1-2 letters or communications a week from private equity buyers. It's getting people excited. There are some that are excited, and some that aren't. There are at least 7-8 private equity guys that are really good and know what they are doing. Private equity is changing the landscape. They are buying companies, and way overpaying for them, and will sell them to another PE firm or a strategic. — Industry Expert"

"The average value of each European UAV programme is less than half that of its North American counterpart — recent analysis by two European UAV experts. On the March, 2023 earnings call... CEO Jeffrey Thompson mentioned in the Q&A that 'what we've gathered from our meetings is [CBP] typically has about 400 drones that are in service, and they need to have 200 or so other drones to make sure those 400 always stay in service.' — Jeffrey Thompson"

"“I know this because I talked to Mark Ghobrial about this. Seventy percent of their transplants use TransMedics. And when I asked him, I asked are these all DCD's? And he goes, no. He goes, in their program, only about 30% to 40% are DCD or older donors, so the rest of them are being used to basically make transplants a semi-elective operation.” — One of the top liver transplant surgeons in the world, based at a leading Midwest academic center"

"General Recommendation: generally, vote FOR shareholder proposals requiring that the Board Chair position be filled by an Independent Director, taking into consideration the following: the scope and rationale of the proposal; the company's current Board leadership structure; the company's governance structure and practices; company performance; and any other relevant factors that may be applicable. — ISS United States - Proxy Voting Guidelines"

"On February 13, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued subpoenas to Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (the “Company”) and certain of the Company’s officers requesting documents and information relating to a range of topics, including metrics relating to the Ubiquiti Community, accounting practices, financial information, auditors, international trade practices, and relationships with distributors and various other third parties."

"As we look ahead to 2025, we remain steadfast in executing on our vision. We are a growth company with no shortage of growth opportunities. We will unlock value for new customer use cases, including seafarers, micro-businesses, and high-amount senders, all of whom have distinct needs that we are uniquely positioned to serve. We can serve additional use cases with minimal incremental investment given the strength of our platform. — Remitly CEO"

""Our 2009 rent relief total will be under $10 million, as in the $7 million to $8 million range. But as I think we said on the call last quarter, we hadn't seen much of it year-to-date. So it's a little back-end weighted, and as you look at the impact of average base rent it could have a nominal impact. But it's a small number in the context of the size of our income statements." — Steve Sterrett, CFO of Simon Property Group, October 30, 2009"

"Number one is the state of accuracy of the information that Oatly provides. I would make emphasis on division by division. EMEA, Europe, including Sweden. The U.S. is right now number one contributor to sales. The marketing channel and expectations from China from the Company; that's from a sector perspective. If I were to invest, want to make sure the financials are accurate and telling the right story. — Former Oatly Accounting Professional"

"“Our 2009 rent relief total will be under $10 million, as in the $7 million to $8 million range. But as I think we said on the call last quarter, we hadn't seen much of it year-to-date. So it's a little back-end weighted, and as you look at the impact of average base rent it could have a nominal impact. But it's a small number in the context of the size of our income statements.” — Steve Sterrett, CFO of Simon Property Group, October 30, 2009"

"I'm borderline. Not a sure bet for me. I think they need to roll out more things in production that complement their first sets of workflows... the antibody space is pretty crowded, and I think that other companies have found ways to optimize, lead candidates where they've been smarter about how to design diversity at a much greater scale than something like the Berkeley Lights box is going to be able to handle. — Gingko Bioworks executive #2"