Callouts & quotes from 10,384+ activist slides

"McCarthy has clashed with Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger and other top executives over strategy, including the amount of money Disney spends on content and a recent restructuring that she felt didn't go far enough to streamline the company. — The Wall Street Journal. Executives who openly challenged others — Mayer, Rice, McCarthy — were ultimately dinged for their frankness. — CNBC"

""But even without the growth of more MDI -- crude MDI, we're continuing to take the crude MDI that we're selling into the market...and moving that into our formulation and downstream system houses as aggressively as we can. And that will be the area of the business that we'll continue to see the growth in the margin expansion going forward." — Peter Huntsman, President & CEO, July 2017"

""[U]nification will reduce complexity and costs, provide greater strategic flexibility, enhance Brambles' position as a leading company on the ASX and eliminate the differential between the share prices of Brambles Industries Limited on the ASX and Brambles Industries plc...." — Don Argus while Chairman of Brambles (Jac Nasser was a Director of Brambles at that time), November 29, 2005"

"“I’m guessing that moving forward, because of how disappointed their customers have been, they’re going to have to ratchet that higher to continue their growth rate. They’re probably; they’re quite desperate. I saw it happen on deals. The next thing I knew, the circular thing had happened with companies and I had no say in it. I think they’re doing it left and right.” — Former employee"

""So let me reiterate our key goals around liquidity and funding our growth. Our key goals remain to continue driving more efficient and seamless direct customer and PPA financing platforms, avoid restricting additional cash, maintain sufficient working capital to support the growing backlog of deployments and avoid dilution of existing equity owners." — Paul Middleton - CFO, Plug Power"

"“it's pretty quiet overall... what I'm not hearing people say, when can I get my hands on Vykat? Because we all know diazoxide, and we all know the problems with it. It's not like we're clueless. I'll put it this way...this somewhat surprising and out of the blue approval that I don't think any of us were quite expecting.” — Endocrinologist; academic and community hospital affiliations"

""Right now getting the typical Ecwid customers smaller than our own, but we do plan to serve both plan to serve, that customer that fits into our are typical, and also, I think that the typical Ecwid customers interesting, because they are the ones that will potentially grow into leads to customers that use more of the suite." — Dax Dasilva, Lightspeed CEO, BMO Conference Aug. 24, 2021"

"Our technology platform is a combination of e-learning platforms, alumni platforms, content management systems, exam platforms, e-business promotion platforms and bookstore platforms, live Internet classrooms, as well as licensed speech recognition platforms...Currently, approximately 3,000 students can use our online systems at the same time. — EDU October 14, 2006 Prospectus, p. 89."

""The strategy among our leadership team at the moment is to sort of consolidate and integrate and heavy up in the countries that we are at today. And so in Brazil, for example, Hal and his team accomplished 600 plus Tower acquisition. Grew the portfolio by over 1/3 in a country that we are already in this year" — Jim Taiclet, JPMorgan Technology, Media and Telecom Conference 16-May-11"

"According to ISS, “Governance QualityScore uses a numeric, decile-based score that indicates a company’s governance risk relative to their index or region. A score in the 1st decile (QS:1) indicates relatively higher quality governance practices and relatively lower governance risk, and, conversely, a score in the 10th decile (QS:10) indicates relatively higher governance risk.” — ISS"

"I could send you a link to the IonQ experiment I did where all I’m doing is adding up a binary number with another binary number, 2+3, and I should see the answer 5 every time, but I don’t see the number 5 every time. I see 4 or 6 or different numbers, and I think it’s an eye-opener when you see that. — Quantum computing expert; user of IonQ’s machine; quantum computing faculty member"

"In terms of value creation for shareholders, it's really a multi-pronged approach. So, topline growth around the product launches, biosimilars and the global expansion, as well as delivering operating leverage for the company, we expect here over the next several years to deliver a 15 point operating margin improvement for the business. — David Meline, Amgen EVP and CFO, November 2014"

"Oh my God...the amount of pressure, it's inconceivable...the pressure is insane...from Samsung and TSMC combined...TSMC number one. Customers complain that its lack of reliability requires them to purchase redundant tools: 'that's why sometimes there are two tools...they need to have a backup tool...it breaks everything...and that's the number one problem they have.' — Industry Expert"

"The Board believes that the business can conservatively support a debt to EBITDA ratio of 1x, while also providing significant flexibility to support Deckers' growth initiatives and seasonal working capital needs. — 10/26/17 press release; No, it's not an ongoing target... That doesn't necessarily mean we'll always maintain that 1x EBITDA. — Thomas George (CFO), 10/26/17 earnings call"

""To this day, I don't believe in sequels. I can't follow popular cycles. I have to move on to new things—there are many new worlds to conquer." — Walt Disney, 1966 Letter to Shareholders; "I'd say we're leaning a little bit more into sequels and franchises... doing that, leaning on franchises that are familiar is actually a smart thing." — Robert A. Iger, CEO & Director, February 2024"

"“Yes. Some livers were refused on cases I was on because they took too long from incision to getting the liver out or they took too long between cross-clamp and reconstruction. They spent too long on the reconstruction, so they were like, this liver has been out too long, and I don't want it now.” ... “Basically, yeah.” ... “Like a couple of hours.” — Former TransMedics OCS specialist"

"“as far as serious cardiac events, we did talk about pulmonary edema at the visit, and she even said something about giving people a handout and how to recognize edema...and I was just like, "huh!" I would expect something transient, but I wouldn't expect a permanent edema, to be honest” — Pediatric endocrinologist at an academic center with eight endocrinologists and ~50 PWS patients"

"OIG recently announced that they’re going to investigate every single OPO, and they’re going to investigate every single transplant program, and it’s going to happen by the end of 2025. ... I’d say I owe you 5 grand times however many kidneys I transplanted because I’ve been overcharging the whole time. — CEO of a major OPO (Organ Procurement Organization), longtime industry executive"

""thing to notice: patients are already in the operating room so AF treatment makes sense. So potential market on an annual basis is 85,000 U.S. patients per year; only 30% of the patients today are currently being treated. So there is significant opportunity for further penetration and growth." — David Drachman, AtriCure's Then-CEO, JMP Securities Research Conference – May 11th, 2010"

""The report issued by Muddy Waters contains many inaccuracies, omissions, fabrications, and unsubstantiated claims..." — Orient Paper. "We are committed to a high level of corporate governance and stand by the integrity of our company..." — Allen Chan, Chairman and CEO of Sino-Forest. "We categorically reject their allegations as inaccurate, unreliable and misleading." — Noble Group."

"Technology innovation and new product development are critical to our plan as well as our core competencies and priorities for GCP. I would like to highlight 2 new products that strengthen our leading below-grade waterproofing portfolio. We have launched Preprufe 800PA, a nonrubberized asphalt-based solution to strengthen our position in North America. — GCP Nov 6, 2019 Earnings Call"

""To convince consumers to pursue AdvoCare’s business opportunity, Defendants claim that AdvoCare offers the average person a financial solution that will enable them to earn unlimited income, attain financial freedom, and eliminate the constraint of traditional employment. In reality, the overwhelming majority of Distributors never earn compensation from the company." — FTC Complaint"

"On July 11, 2018, CMS released a new proposal to change the payment rules for Durable Medical Equipment Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS), including our portable oxygen concentrators. This includes a proposal that when the current competitive bidding contracts expire December 31, 2018, beneficiaries can obtain DMEPOS items from any enrolled Medicare supplier. — Inogen 10Q"

"After the East Palestine accident, Norfolk Southern conducted a "vent and burn" of the derailed train cars' contents – an action that "lack[ed] sufficient scientific basis" – which sent a massive plume of toxic chemicals into the air, leading to long-term health and environmental concerns. — Senator JD Vance press release (Mar. 6, 2024) and The Washington Post article (Mar. 6, 2024)."

"I wasn't seeing a lot of success with the drug and, therefore, when I had a new trial, because I'm involved like these phone calls, lots of times, as a key opinion leader, international leader in Prader-Willi Syndrome, there were some other trials that were coming down the pipeline that seemed promising.... — Trial investigator and physician; one of the leading KOL's in the PWS field"

"AtriCure's presentation of the STAR AF II results cuts off the published table documenting the trial's major efficacy outcomes, conveniently omitting the fact that - even 10 years ago! - two catheter ablation procedures consisting of PVI alone resulted in freedom from AF/AT/AFL 18 months after the initial procedure in 61% of patients suffering from persistent AF. — Kerrisdale Capital"

"I was stunned at how many cataplexy and narcolepsy patients that are legitimately out there. I was stunned. Stunned...I was just amazed...that every month that these different providers have...identified so many patients...we’re not talking about an autoimmune disease...it’s almost like narcolepsy’s a pandemic, not a rare disease. — Ex-field reimbursement manager working with Harmony"

"Yes, it's the Wey Gaoshan 9. GWM have been engaged with them (Faraday Future) about this project for roughly a year. They explored the possibility of rebadging the model and requested additional modifications. However, they were unable to meet the MOQ (minimum order quantity) required to justify the investment in new tooling or production line changes. — CarNewsChina anonymous source"

""[Dauman] took a short-term financial gain beginning in 2011 by selling kids TV hits including SpongeBob to Netflix. That now appears to have backfired by encouraging young viewers to abandon Nickelodeon and other ad-supported channels and go online where they can watch shows whenever they want, without ads." — www.deadline.com/2015/08/viacom-philippe-dauman-heir-apparent-1201493629"

"“Elliott’s consultant and candidate for CEO – Larry Lawson, a former Spirit AeroSystems CEO – is legally restricted from taking the job and is on Elliott’s payroll. Elliott has agreed to pay him approximately $28 million over next two years, raising the question of whether he would truly serve the interests of ALL Arconic shareholders.” — Arconic’s Letter to Employees, April 7, 2017"

""The officers of the Corporation shall be elected by the Board of Directors and shall include a Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary. The Board of Directors of the Corporation, in its discretion, may also elect a Chairman of the Board of Directors (who must be a director)..." — BlackRock, Bylaws, Article IV – Officers – 4.1 designation"

"“They’re going for a cost win versus a quality one right off the bat. IDT’s pitch is more quality, a little bit more expensive, and is able to compete with Twist. There are customers that won’t sacrifice quality over cost because what they’re doing is extremely important in the syn-bio space and extremely well-funded in the academic market.” — Former employee now at a key competitor"

"Turning to our Pro business. We are successfully executing a holistic strategy to grow our wallet share among Pros. In the third quarter, total and comparable store sales to Pros exceeded the company's total sales growth of 25.2%. Consequently, Pros accounted for 40.7% of our third quarter sales, up from 39% in the second quarter of fiscal 2022. — Floor & Decor Q3 2022 Earnings Call"

"False Claim: Vivion tenant Rent24 is a related party and represents a significant portion of the Company's business. The Facts: Vivion's shareholders have no ownership interest in Rent24. While Vivion's Founding Shareholders were early investors in Rent24, this stake was sold on September 1, 2017. Rent24 currently accounts for less than 2.5% of Vivion's revenue. — Vivion Investments"

"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. — Pfizer senior scientist"

"“There really is nobody. And when I say nobody, nobody, not a carrier, not a VC-backed start-up, nobody that takes every component of what it means to manage a fertility benefit and addresses it. And so at the end of the day, a lot of people have marketing materials and have a lot of claims, but there is a reality.” — CEO Peter Anevski at 2022 JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, 1/11/22"

"“But the stimulators — devices that use electrical currents to block pain signals before they reach the brain — are more dangerous than many patients know, an Associated Press investigation found. They account for the third-highest number of medical device injury reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with more than 80,000 incidents flagged since 2008.” — Associated Press"

"CFO Reagan: “You're thinking about the Health margins, we are now -- and we continue to believe that the Health margins, which were very strong in the quarter, continue to be sustainable.”; CEO Krone: “We were able to sell part of the business that really wasn't in our portfolio. Clearly, that would have been lower-margin for us.” — JPMorgan, Leidos Earnings First Look, Oct 29, 2019"

"“Insulin resistance should be improving because insulin levels come down. But I’m just really surprised they haven’t reported either the HOMA-B, the insulin production rate and the insulin resistance. I don’t know why they haven’t reported that in either of the papers that I’ve seen.” — Trial investigator; endocrinologist; one of the most published authorities on PWS and hyperphagia"

"This e-mail, any attachments and the information contained therein ("this message") are confidential and intended solely for the use of the addressee(s). If you have received this me Ce message electronique ainsi que tous les fichiers joints et les informations contenus dans ce message (ci apres "le message"), sont confidentiels et destines exclusivement a l'usage — Email Disclaimer"

"To help accelerate our involvement with this trend, earlier this month, we closed on the acquisition of Enbala Power Networks, a leading distributed energy resources technology company based in Denver, Colorado. Enbala's best-in-class technology will enable us to participate in the market for grid services, which we see as a growing opportunity. — Generac Press Release, Oct 5, 2020"

""If you look at the roadmap, they're not hitting the roadmap. Look at slide 19, they say the most usable qubits, it's not true." — Former executive; "the leadership at IonQ is not necessarily interested in actually getting things done as promised" — Former senior employee of IonQ; "it's a lot of bullshit and in sort of a bubble." — Ex-IonQ employee, senior member of technical staff"

"“…We find many of your responses to the shareholders’ concerns to be misleading, self serving, and defensive…Given the inconsistencies in many of your recent communications, we expect that the shareholders would welcome Elliott’s nominees to the Board to ensure proper and timely execution and to avoid risk of backsliding.” — David H. Batchelder, Relational Investors LLC, March 2013"

"“Those ad-free platforms are becoming more appealing as Viacom channels make up for the decline in ratings points by cutting back on programming minutes and packing in additional commercials. By one count, time devoted to ads on BET in primetime was up 15% in Q2 vs the period last year, while MTV and VH1 were up 11%. Nickelodeon’s ad time increased 6% from 7 AM to 7 PM.” — Source 1"

""We have great assets, we are in Northwest Florida, 300,000 of our acres are within 40 miles of that new airport. We have development expertise; we have an extremely strong balance sheet to weather whatever storms coming our way. We have a new international airport unprecedented in the United States and we are poised for growth." — Britt Greene, CEO, Raymond James Conference 3/9/10"

""We are a technology company with a host of patents" — Fran Rathke, GMCR CFO; "I would define our company today as really a single serve beverage company that is sitting on top of this magnificent technology, call it disruptive technology platform" — Larry Blanford, GMCR CEO; "ETF on the rapid-growing single-serve market" — Jim Cramer; "We are the iPod of coffee" — GMCR Management."

""[D]omestic interest rates and domestic inflation will be substantially influenced by the behavior of the economy to whose currency it is tied (the USA in this case). It was, in essence, the potential effect of such ties upon the Hong Kong economy which led to the abandonment of the sterling link in 1972 and then the US dollar link in 1974." — Hong Kong government policy memo, 1983"

""If you do the math on cell line development, you can figure out how big the market is, how much you should charge, all those things. Other people have talked to me about this said, well, this is how I do the math. And I say, that's how I do it as well. It's not that big of a market. In fact, it's really small. I probably had some friction there around this." — Former BLI executive"

""Obviously, Florida is the strongest. I mean it's just crazy how much Florida is growing." — CEO Smith, Analyst Day Oct 4, 2023. "Clearly, when you look at our states of Florida and Tennessee and South Carolina are just -- have great funding programs and are very, very active. Florida is clearly experiencing just an incredible amount of migration." — CEO Smith, Q1 2024 Feb 9, 2024."

"“I would say overall probably 25% of the patients are satisfied with Nevro, maybe less. We first started seeing a diminution at about 6 months, and it really became prevalent at close to a year. I would say on average, towards the end of the first year of the implant, we saw a huge drop off in efficacy.” — Ex-Nevro consultant/speaker and one of the most prominent KOL's in the space"

"“I’ve implanted a hundred stimulators in some years but last year it dropped to 50 or 60. The rules for pain clinics in opiate management in Florida changed... Regardless, I think that the end result of us being more stringent with patients that we allowed to enter the practice was a decrease in the overall numbers of stimulator implants.” — One of Nevro’s highest volume implanters"

"I heard that the Washington Post is working on a report because there is some concern that companies are giving kickbacks to some surgeons or hospitals for using the machine; this is something that is not published...I heard that there is a reporter working on TransMedics, specifically. — Transplant surgeon and division chief of the liver program at a world-renowned academic center"

"I heard that the Washington Post is working on a report because there is some concern that companies are giving kickbacks to some surgeons or hospitals for using the machine; this is something that is not published...I heard that there is a reporter working in TransMedics, specifically. — Transplant surgeon and division chief of the liver program at a world-renowned academic center"

""So when you add those things up, you're at about 10% (organic growth), and that's before we get into a new $1 billion-plus program win, and that's for the Reserve Health Readiness Program for the DoD, where that's, again, another $1 billion program over 5 years. And that will also be a nice effort added to our organic growth." — CFO Reagan, Morgan Stanley Conference, Sept 16, 2020"

"I agree with you 100%, and I agree with you on your take on Neil Cowen’s PK paper. I do believe it was slightly manipulated...Off-label, certainly people could use it...you’re completely right. If this is really such a good drug, people can use diazoxide and suspension exactly the same way for pennies on the dollar. — Ex-senior Soleno employee #1, key role in clinical trial program"

"“she gets the families really well in that she provides them a lot of hope and support...and parents feel really good after seeing her and feel inspired and motivated... I don't know if I'd use the word quack, but not super evidence-based... you can hear me hesitating — I'm not giving my full-throated support.” — Pediatric endocrinologist, leads one of the largest PWS clinics in US"

"Therefore, in regards to the school tax treatment problems, our state unified tax system is equally applicable regardless of whether it's a private school or a public school, a profit school or a non-profit school, a domestic funded school or foreign funded school. They all have the same chance to enjoy our unified preferential tax policy. — Official Chinese Tax Regulation Excerpt"

"MW: We see there were $684 million in loans made to HASI's equity method investments [in 2021]. Do you have a breakdown on that? ... There is also a subordinated loan made to Vivint Solar Asset 3 for $140 million—is that HASI's loan? HASI Investor Relations: Yes, that is right. SunStrong is a majority of the loans to Hannon's equity method investments and Vivint 3 is $340 million."

"“the cost of goods are pretty horrendous” – the gross margins “were pretty shitty…yeah, they were negative for sure.” ... “...the waste at the manufacturing plant exceeded 60%. They only had like a 30% yield. My guys were there almost every week trying to figure out how to improve the manufacturing process.” — Longtime oligonucleotide manufacturing expert and executive; ex-Agilent"

"Researchers demonstrated the potential for malicious activity to remotely compromise the ELDs and send instructions to vehicle components to cause the vehicle to behave in unexpected and unwanted ways...Commands passed into the vehicle network through an ELD could affect functions such as vehicle controls and the accuracy of the console display. — FBI Private Industry Notification"