Activism
We have tracked activists’ campaigns since inception, and we have seen some real weird stuff. My personal favorite: Lifeway issues a press release stating that the activist (the CEO’s brother) cannot be appointed to the BoD because there’s a restraining order against the CEO.
It’s like reality TV, but with worse-looking people.
Activism drives change, which in turn creates investment opportunities. But they require a deep understanding of the situation. That’s what we try to track for you. In the case of Lifeway, the company became investable (and was flagged by KEDM) when the activists threw in the towel and left the CEO actually to run the company.
Let’s talk about activism in its most basic form. Call it activism 101.
In many cases, when a stock goes down, shareholders blame it on poor management execution rather than on their own decision to allocate to a dwindling business.
You write an angry letter to management to remind him who’s boss. Better get the share price up, or else! We recommend you do buybacks now, while you make a new investor deck that tells everyone how undervalued you are.
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Kliff Note of the Week
Spin Notes: An update on the Flex (FLEX) spinoff, which filed Form 10. Its spinoff will be called Axiom Solutions (AXM). Form 10 shows that the largest 2 customers make up 64% of revenue.
Axiom will also include the recently acquired EPC Power ($4.4b acquisition price). As a reminder, applying the peer (VRT) sales multiple of 7x to AXM yields roughly Flex’s current EV. More details coming on their Nov 10 Innovation Day.
Buyback Notes: Boyd Group Services (BGSI) popped a 10% buyback. They don’t have the cash for it yet, but this is a strongly FCF-generative business. BGSI is North America’s largest non-franchised collision-repair consolidator (Gerber Collision & Glass, Boyd Autobody).
They grew a lot through acquisitions, including a big one last year. Higher leverage and earnings misses have pushed shares down ~50% since Q1. But this fragmented industry still offers decent growth, with plenty of roll-up potential. $140m targeted cost savings through 2029. ~8x forward EV/EBITDA.
Investor Day Notes: New Corteva (CTVA), meanwhile, becomes a pure-play Crop Protection business and targets a revenue CAGR of 3% and EBITDA at 6%, driven by $450m of incremental contribution from new products/biologicals plus >$200m of net COGS/productivity improvement, partly offset by continued pricing pressure and investment.
We remember the days when combining seeds and crop protection was the way to go because of the R&D synergies. Will shareholders sell CTVA to buy VYLR?
CEO Golden Handcuffs Notes: RTB Digital (RTB) is a digital-media technology and publishing-platform company that went public through its merger with RyvyL (RVYL) in May 2026.
Under the proposed board LTIP, Heckman may receive equity awards equal to 10% of incremental annual share-price appreciation once the share price exceeds the prior year-end 60-day VWAP by 20%, with the hurdle falling to 15% from 2030 to 2031, subject to a high-water mark.
13D and Activist Notes: Breach Inlet Capital urges the Atlanta Braves (BATRA) BoD, as well as controlling shareholder John Malone, to pursue a sale.
We all know that sports team valuations are making new highs, but a new tax code in 2027 makes public Cos ineligible for tax deductions on their 8 highest-paid employees.
This would make $110m of costs no longer deductible. We know how much Malone dislikes paying taxes, which would make a sale very likely.
Q2 Hedge Fund Letter insights
Our team of analysts worked their way through a little over 200 fund letters to highlight and summarize the best ideas. We started this breakout last quarter and received good feedback.
We have tried to be more selective – quality over quantity, but if your favorite letter is still missing, let us know!
Disclaimer. KEDM is provided for informative purposes only. No due diligence has (yet) been performed on the names on this list. The list might change strongly on a regular basis. This overview does not constitute advice; always do your own due diligence. For the full disclaimer, please go here.