The Bear Cave #121

New Activist Report, Recent Resignations, and Tweets of the Week

Jun 12, 2022

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New Activist Report

Jehoshaphat Research published on Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC — $2.70 billion), a renewable energy developer, owner, and operator. Jehoshaphat Research alleged that the company’s earnings “are nearly 100% dependent on renewable energy credits” and added,

“This company has taken aggressive, sometimes bizarre, steps to hide its enormous dependence on these risky financial instruments – removing 10-K disclosures, playing accounting games, evasively maneuvering on public calls, even refusing to include as competitors the (low-multiple) public companies whose filings directly name AMRC in their own peer lists.”

Jehoshaphat also said that Ameresco’s asset development plan and EBITDA targets “are not feasible” and predicted ~70% downside driven in part by a potential fall in the value for energy credits.

Recent Resignations

Notable executive departures disclosed in the past week include:

CFO of Angi Inc (NASDAQ: ANGI — $2.34 billion) resigned after eleven months “and will remain in a consultative capacity.” The company has had five different CFOs in the last five years.
CFO of Volta Inc (NYSE: VLTA — $382 million) resigned after about one and a half years “to pursue another professional opportunity.” The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Chief People Officer, and Chief Administrative Officer all resigned this week as well. Volta is down nearly 80% since its August 2021 SPAC merger.
CFO of TreeHouse Foods (NYSE: THS — $2.18 billion) resigned after two and a half years “to pursue another professional opportunity.” In April, two of the company’s board members resigned due to “other personal and professional time commitments” and in December the company’s Chief Human Resource Officer was “terminated without cause” after seven years.
CFO of Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ: PTON — $3.55 billion) “will be stepping down” after a little over four years. The “compensation peer group” for the outgoing CFO previously included Alphabet, Apple, Exxon Mobil, and Walmart.
CEO of Hippo Holdings (NYSE: HIPO — $597 million) resigned after nearly seven years. The company is down ~90% since its August 2021 SPAC merger.
CEO of GoHealth Inc (NASDAQ: GOCO — $231 million) resigned after over 21 years. The company has fallen ~97% since its July 2020 IPO.
Chief Compliance Officer of OraSure Technologies (NASDAQ: OSUR — $198 million) “notified the company of her termination of her employment with good reason” after seven months. The company has fallen nearly 50% in the 30 days.
Chief Manufacturing Officer of QuantumScape (NYSE: QS — $4.37 billion) resigned after eleven months “to focus her career on the development of a fully U.S.-based battery supply chain.” Scorpion Capital previously called the company “a pump and dump SPAC scam by Silicon Valley celebrities.”
Chief Revenue Officer of Couchbase Inc (NASDAQ: BASE — $702 million) resigned “effective immediately, for personal reasons” after three years. The company is down ~50% since its July 2021 IPO.
Chief Commercial Officer of Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ: AFRM — $5.85 billion) “entered into a transition agreement” after three years. The company has fallen ~80% in the last six months.
TJ Donovan is resigning early as Vermont Attorney General to become director of public policy and U.S. state strategies for Roblox (NYSE: RBLX — $16.5 billion). The Bear Cave previously called Roblox “the leading platform for pedophiles.”

Data for this section is provided by VerityData from VerityPlatform.com

What to Read

“Highflying Tiger Global Humbled by Unraveling of Giant Tech Bet” (WSJ)

“Tiger said in a note to investors last week that its hedge fund, which managed $23 billion at the end of 2021, was down 52% this year. That is one of the largest-ever losses by a hedge fund. Its other large stock fund—a long-only fund that managed $11 billion at the end of 2021 and doesn’t short stocks—has lost 61.7%.”

“Hedge Fund D1 Borrowed Billions for a Hot Bet That Now Faces Reckoning” (Bloomberg)

“D1 has told investors who selected a 50-50 mix of public and private assets that the strategy lost 23% through May. The firm attributed most of the damage to public investments, which fell 44%. It marked down private assets only 8% -- including 0.05% last month. There’s a reason it wasn’t more dramatic: D1 assesses the value of its private stakes quarterly, with only some exceptions in the interim. The next round is due at the end of this month.”

“Warburg-backed news group Reorg hires bankers for sale” (FT)

“Transaction could value specialist distressed debt and bankruptcy information provider at about $1.5bn… Private equity groups have expressed interest in Reorg in recent months as buyout investors have snapped up lucrative specialist content companies that can charge corporate clients high, recurring subscription fees.”