Callouts & quotes from 10,384+ activist slides

""It will be acceptable to indicate eventual possible appreciation in the event of confidence returning to such a degree as to produce unduly rapid monetary expansion, but such an indication must carry complete conviction that the rate would only ever be adjusted in that direction." — Internal Hong Kong government policy memo, 1983"

""As you’ll be aware, 2025 Brent strip is at around $75 per barrel, and other commodities and prices, including refining margins, are under pressure. Were these prices to play out, the rule of thumb impact in 2025 would be around $4 billion – but that’s a price call that we don’t know at this stage" — BP CEO at the Q2 2024 results."

""Dr. Ignarro has basically started the world on the track of nitric oxide, has made the world understand that a healthy blood flow is a healthy body. And we are the first company to come out with a nitric oxide product in the marketplace, it was laughed at initially and now it is copied." — Michael Johnson, Herbalife CEO, 11-28-07"

""The lead independent director facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning" — BlackRock Investment Stewardship, Proxy voting guidelines for U.S. securities Effective as of January 2024"

"“And I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved. I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed…That’s an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.” — Robert A. Iger, CEO & Director, November 2023"

"The Meridian Speedway ... is a corridor that serves NS' intermodal segment and goes between the Southeast and the central Texas market and the Southeast and Southwest markets in California and Arizona ... NS stressed the importance of the corridor to its business when STB was reviewing the merger between CP and KCS. — FreightWaves"

""They are very good at PR, and saying we're going to acquire this, this, this, but I don't know if there will be a breaking point where all these acquisitions are not going to play well together. It looks great on paper but when you go into practice, how is this going to operate beyond just numbers on a PR deck?" — Former employee"

"“results from sites in Russia...cannot be trusted.” — FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. “disturbing and it’s good to get it published...offshoring for financial reasons is bad because it raises risk of malfeasance.” — FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. “how much we can trust clinical evidence from these settings.” — Stanford professor."

"The Group's Security Department has developed and deployed an incident reporting tool enabling precise monitoring by region and brand across the Group, with the aim of strengthening security in hotels, improving team response to incidents, harmonizing crisis management protocols, and raising employee awareness. — Accor SA (p. 229)"

""We filed our water wastewater rate case in Pennsylvania, as we mentioned resolution in mid-2019, and year-over-year we're expecting customer growth to be between 2% and 3%, and as Matt said, we've already hit the 2% and we've got more in the pipeline." — Aqua Announces 2018 Guidance, 8-K, Feb 27, 2018 and Q3 2018 Conference Call"

"So, is Ballroom doing well or not doing well? When I hear or learn that a claim is being filed in the German courts for the return of the purchase price you paid because Ballroom is not doing well, and yet you write under no. 11 of the response that Ballroom is doing well, then we are going to lose the claim. — Shareholder at AGM"

"“As others have merged into megacompanies, we are becoming more streamlined and focused. As others have broadened their portfolios, we are focusing on select areas of medical need. As others have widened their geographic footprints, we are concentrating on key major and emerging markets.” — James Cornelius, BMY 2009 Annual Report"

"With that considered, we have made the decision to issue an off-cycle RSU grant to partially top up total compensation, particularly for those in the most competitive job categories. We will also reprice a small portion of the total outstanding stock options, those that are far out of the money. — CFO Comments Q2'22 Earnings Call"

""Reading the NTSB report makes it clear that meaningful safety improvements require a comprehensive industry effort that brings together railcar and tank car manufacturers, railcar owners and lessors, and the railroad companies," said Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan H. Shaw. — Norfolk Southern Press Release (Mar. 6, 2023)"

"“[M]any of the Distributors whom Defendants would expressly or impliedly characterize as solely ‘discount buyers’ are, in fact, pursuing the business opportunity.” — FTC v. Herbalife International of America, Inc., et al. (July 15, 2016). Case No.2:16-cv-05217, Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other Equitable Relief, at 28."

"On Instagram, our primary platform, we have on average doubled our number of followers year over year since our launch and have a four-year follower growth rate of over 2,400%. Today, we have over half a million followers on Instagram, which is almost twice the number of followers of our nearest competitor. — FIGS IPO Prospectus"

"Hao said that since China stocks have listed on the US stock exchange, there have been similar cases. He thinks that Muddy Waters short sells only after serious investigation, and does not make fictitious reports. Otherwise, the goodwill, which is accumulated over many years, would be destroyed. "But the truth needs" — HAO Junbo"

"“Quantum technology is still at a very early stage. The quantum computers still do not have the same level of maturity as classical computers. It’s not that they are useless...” — Executive of a key IonQ partner; “No, it’s a free partnership.” — Executive of a key IonQ partner; “Right now, yes.” — Executive of a key IonQ partner"

""Hess is a company with great assets that I believe are not being valued appropriately in the market. I am excited not only to apply the lessons I have learned at Ultra to Hess’s operations in the Bakken, but also to help Hess achieve its potential and realize value for all stakeholders: shareholders and employees." — Mark Smith"

""And I hate to use the word brand there... Consumers don't want brands, they don't care about brands. They care about something else, values, stories, and messages, right? Just so happens you can a message around a brand. But at the end of the day, who cares about brands" — Bjorn Oste, The Pivotal Leader Interview, April 3, 2019"

""We entered the third quarter with a solid backlog and pipeline of opportunities. That said, we are not anticipating an increase in large order activity considering the conversion rates on our pipeline remain lower than historical levels as customers continue to be cautious in what remains an uncertain environment." — CFO, Q2'24"

"“In-transit inventory generally varies due to contractual terms, country of origin, transit times, international holidays, weather patterns and other factors, but approximately 25% of our inventory is in-transit, while roughly 75% is available for sale in our stores or at one of our four distribution centers.” — FND 10-K filings"

""Agrium's Board has, in our view, done little to ensure that shareowners in the company have the information they need to make informed decisions" — Credit Agricole / CLSA, 11/5/12; "Agrium's EBITDA targets can be met with acquisitions at any price at all, with no reference to return on capital" — Credit Agricole / CLSA, 11/5/12"

"“We’re going to have higher margins with the delivery of these cost synergies, and we haven’t quantified the benefits of any revenue synergies but we would clearly expect to be able to grow at higher rates over the longer term than we would independently”.... “And we see some very specific opportunities” — Amcor CEO, Aug 7, 2018"

"Agriculture is DuPont's most important business, representing ~40% of total segment revenue and ~47% of total segment PTOI excluding Performance Chemicals... It concerns us that Agriculture seemingly borrowed from 2014 to make DuPont's overall 2013 numbers. — Trian letter to DuPont's lead director, Alexander Cutler dated 2/10/14"

"“... Our clients have never asked us for hyper-local advertising, and we don’t see a need with a national product. Patch may be able to get some traction through AOL, but it’s really all about the reach and getting your brand out there. I don’t see this changing in the future....” — Senior advertising agency director, March 2012"

"“The Sponsor evaluated the effect of pitolisant on the QT interval in two studies (Studies P09-11 and P14-05) [...] Study P09-11 was a total QT (TQT) study that evaluated doses up to 120 mg (single dose). Study P14-05 was a single ascending dose (SAD) study that evaluated doses up to 240 mg.” — FDA CDER Clinical Review, Dec 2018"

"One of the consistent highlights for the business has been our working capital performance. And on a like-for-like basis, the working capital to sales ratio has improved by 30 basis points in the half to 10.4%. We will maintain our focus in this area to reduce this ratio further over time. — CFO Casamento, Feb 11, 2020 Conf Call"

"Holy shit. No... I have.. ho... I ... really? Dude, I swear to god I must live under a rock because I had no idea how much that goddamn thing is. That's stupid. But then the drug companies can write whatever they want, right? They can sell it for anything they want. That's unbelievable. — Physician and Harmony speaker in Alabama"

"Of the £11,899.0m (31 March 2024: £10,479.2m) cash and cash equivalents at the period end, £1,061.2m (2024: £1,061.1m) is considered the corporate cash balance, which is not related to customer funds that are held in Wise accounts or collected from customers as part of the money transfer settlement process. — Wise Annual Report"

"“At Ultra Petroleum, we have concentrated on creating a culture of operational discipline and efficiency. We focus relentlessly on costs, best practices, and constant benchmarking to continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations. This process is never done and requires constant vigilance.” — Mark Smith"

"On a periodic basis, management reviews the costs incurred to date and the estimated costs to complete for each project to determine whether the amount recognized as costs and anticipated profits in excess of billings is an accurate estimate of the amount that the Corporation has earned on its projects. — WSP 2022 Annual Report"

""After unification, 100% of your dividends have to be franked for shareholders to benefit. So, when you think of our shareholder returns policy... paying out at 60% over the last 8 years, that means 60% of our earnings have to be in Australia to have the capacity to keep on fully franking." — Peter Cunningham, CFO, 31 July 2024"

"Employee Experience and Employer Brand: At TaskUs, we hired approximately 12,000 new employees in 2019. Many of our larger competitors hire tens or even hundreds of thousands of people each year. To deliver to this number of hires many companies in our industry use "push" tactics like sign-on bonuses. — Draft Prospectus, p. 122"

"As explained last quarter, we have introduced a number of measures designed to mitigate the risk associated with a single-pit operation in a high rainfall area with deep levels of weathering. This places the mine at risk and could cause us to lose the pit for an extended period of time… — AKG Management, Q4 2016 conference call"

"「暗いフレーム、あるいは誤検知が発生します。光源の変動が原因です。......プラズマの物理学によって輝度がどうしても変動することになります。ウシオ製の光源では......プラズマは動き回る余裕があります。それが輝度の変動の原因になります。制御するのは難しい。一方のUrashimaはレーザー生成プラズマ方式で......それらに十分な出力を投入するのが難しい。結果としてプラズマが小さくなりがちです。それによって、装置の照度が不十分になってしまうことがあります。......ときには光と均一性が不十分なフレームが出てきます。フレーム隅々まで十分な輝度がなければ、暗い箇所が現れたりして、誤検知の原因になります」 — ウシオのフィールド・サービス・エンジニア"

""The merger also will allow the combined firm to issue shares to pursue potential acquisition targets. Having a single stock to make acquisitions is a ‘tool we didn’t have before....'" — BHP Director Malcolm Brinded when Royal Dutch Shell unified its DLC structure in June 2005 (while Brinded was a director at Royal Dutch Shell)"

"In our view it’s both beneficial for consumers to enter into what we think is strong relief rather than litigating every case to conclusion... when we can’t reach a good settlement we will not hesitate to litigate. — FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, FTC Press Event Regarding Herbalife International of America, Inc. (July 15, 2016)"

""...the goal has always been to build what I would characterize as a good business... In terms of how we get there, it's really in many ways the way that we've gotten from where we were, to the point we're at right now... that's probably the way we're going to operate the business." — Hugh F. Johnston, Disney CFO, February 2024"

"We operate in the cyclical semiconductor industry where there is seasonal demand for certain of our products. While we are not immune from current and future industry downturns, we have targeted product and market areas that we believe have the ability to offer above average industry performance over the long term. — MPWR 10-K"

"AC installed export capacity should not be seen as an appropriate tool to constrain the impacts of a solar farm. Other measurements, such as panel size, total area and percentage of ground cover should be used to set the maximum extent of development when determining the planning impacts of an application. — Draft EN-3 §2.48.9"

"“I think they're selling below the cost of their product. They set their pricing based on assumed cost and the fact that they have cash to weather it. They put Gen9 out of business using that pricing... I don't think they're ever going to recover from that.” — Ex-employee in senior product management and sales leadership roles"

"“First of all, direct to consumer sales in our product category globally currently represents 0.3% of sales. I'm not saying that to indicate that it's not a potentially important tool for us. I believe it is...I do not want this to be taken wrong way but I don't see a mass move” — P&G Management, October 25, 2016 Earnings Call"

"I feel very optimistic that there is money hidden here and it can be unleashed by increasing cooperation between the group's magazines. My biggest headache is freeing up the capital to make (new) investment because times are tough and the advertising recession is still lingering. — Ms. Moore (Financial Times, October 16, 2002)"

"While ad spend on the Roku platform in verticals including financial services and M&E remained pressured, verticals such as travel and wellness improved....Accordingly, we expect the advertising market in Q2 to look much the same as it did in Q1, while other verticals remain pressured such as M&E and financial services. — Roku"

"The midstream portfolio is made up of high-quality assets – these assets are just not getting the level of attention or capital allocation required to compete against peers. We need a renewed focus on stewarding these assets while exploring the most accretive mechanisms to realize value from the midstream portfolio. — Mr. Heim"

"AC installed export capacity should not be seen as an appropriate tool to constrain the impacts of a solar farm. Other measurements, such as panel size, total area and percentage of ground cover should be used to set the maximum extent of development when determining the planning impacts of an application. — Draft EN-3 §2.48.9"

"“Right. We do not discuss the individual business of tenants, so I wouldn't comment to that.” — Company Representative (Q1 2009 Earnings Call); “Yes, it's not our policy to comment on our individual tenants and what they're doing. We could sit here all day. We have 118 tenants.” — Company Representative (Q2 2009 Earnings Call)"

""We are not privy to PepsiCo's specific holdings or their investment strategy," Danimer Scientific said in the statement. "PepsiCo continues to be a strong strategic partner to Danimer Scientific through a fruitful business relationship and PepsiCo's seat on Danimer Scientific's board." — Danimer Scientific (via Seeking Alpha)"

""The thresholds were revised by the Human Resources and Compensation Committee in the context of its annual executive compensation review conducted at the beginning of each fiscal year to take into account, among other elements, the fact that the base for the calculation is growing every year." — FY15 Management Proxy Circular"

"“Most of the time, I don't think it's doing anything.” — Neurologist in Texas; “she had uncontrollable bursts of anger, and she was like, slamming her desk and stomping her feet on the floor...that was a weird one...could have been...very profound...she doesn't have any psychosis or bipolar or anything.” — Neurologist in Texas"

"“Who wants to bring their family into a struggle to make it? Who wants to bring their family into an eventual deception?” — Stephan Gratziani; “[S]uccessful people in retailing in our business, it’s a very small percentage. . . . The majority of our people have a difficulty in selling products, in general.” — Stephan Gratziani"

""TSMC is...delaying purchasing until they fix their offload problem" and that they started delaying "a year ago now." ... "The Isteq source has been qualified in TSMC and failed." ... "it's not stable. It doesn't work all of the time, it just dies." — Former KLA executive in a leadership role in their EUV mask inspection group"

"As of January, London-headquartered Zepz — formerly known as WorldRemit — had a global headcount of 1,000 people, meaning the redundancies affect around 20% of its total workforce. The layoffs affect several IT functions at the company, including database administration, development operations and software engineering. — CNBC"

"Generac: "Raising sales guidance net sales are now expected to increase between 36% to 40% from the previous guidance of net sales growth between 32% to 36% and assumes shipments of residential products increased at a mid- to high 40% rate during 2022, up from prior expectation for a low 40% rate." — Generac Q1 2022 Conf Call"

""The Middleby Corporation played an instrumental part in the rollout of Chili's new kitchen equipment technology which paved the way for culinary innovations like pizzas and flatbreads. The equipment also helped improve kitchen pace at company-owned and franchised restaurants throughout the country" — Brinker, August 26, 2013"

""The Middleby Corporation played an instrumental part in the rollout of Chili's new kitchen equipment technology which paved the way for culinary innovations like pizzas and flatbreads. The equipment also helped improve kitchen pace at company-owned and franchised restaurants throughout the country" — Brinker, August 26, 2013"

"“Even at Agilent, we decided that doing next-generation sequencing on these oligonucleotides is very time-consuming and very costly... We ended up most of the time with a bunch of pissed-off customers... You basically have to go down the drain with it.” — Longtime oligonucleotide manufacturing expert and executive; ex-Agilent"

"“Yeah, I don't think I can disclose more than that, unfortunately. It is highly confidential. I didn't even know the letter was disclosed to the public. Even within Twist, we really downplayed that...I don't feel comfortable elaborating on that one, unfortunately.” — Ex-Twist employee involved with Twist's activities in China"

"Probably get the benchmarks on the 20th of September, the release date of the new cards. You can pre-order if you want, but we have no idea how much performance we are getting with these new cards. Jensen specifically talked only about Ray-tracing performance, we have no idea how much more FPS we will be getting — Reddit User"