The Bear Cave #330

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

Jun 14, 2026

Welcome to The Bear Cave! Our last premium articles were “Problems at Ethos Technologies (LIFE)” and “The Unjust Prosecution of Andrew Left (Part 1)” and our next special investigation comes out this Thursday, June 18.

New Activist Reports

Hunterbrook Media published on Ensign Group (NASDAQ: ENSG — $8.73 billion), a large nursing facility roll-up. Hunterbrook alleged that Ensign’s “numbers are a mirage” and that understaffing at its facilities leads to positive financial results and negative patient outcomes. Hunterbrook wrote, in part:

“In just 5 months where data was available, Ensign shorted residents 5M+ hours of nursing care. It seeks out the sickest patients for higher reimbursement from the government, then staffs below what that payment is calibrated to support.”

Hunterbrook estimated that insufficient staffing “saved Ensign about $386M (annualized) in 2024 — more than its entire reported net income that year of $298M” and also alleged that Ensign’s quality metrics “beat the average on the numbers it self-reports with no documentation procedures imposed by CMS — and falls below it on many of the numbers the government verifies.”

Following the investigation, Ensign stock fell ~8% and Hunterbrook released a long-form video about the alleged misconduct.

Three days after Hunterbrook, Muddy Waters Research published on Ensign Group and alleged the company “rents Administrator licenses to deceive CMS” and that proper compliance would “cut 2027 EBIT ~35% vs consensus.” As part of its research, Muddy Waters made unannounced visits to 57 Ensign facilities and “obtained the consulting agreement Ensign apparently uses to rent licenses” at many of its facilities. Muddy Waters also “independently corroborated billing for therapy never rendered.”

The Muddy Waters report included a “Left Disclosure” referencing the recent criminal prosecution of Andrew Left for trading around reports. The disclosure stated:

“‘Left Disclosure’: As of the time and date of this report, Muddy Waters is short the securities of, or derivatives linked to Ensign Group, Inc. (ENSG). Upon publication, we intend to begin covering a substantial majority – possibly all – of our short positions. As we elaborate below, our risk reduction is not a reflection of a lack of conviction in our opinions or the facts presented; rather, it has to do with managing risk in a manner that is prudent for a fiduciary of our investors’ money.”

Fuzzy Panda Research published two updates on T1 Energy (NYSE: TE — $2.37 billion), a clean battery solutions company formerly known as FREYR Battery. Fuzzy Panda claimed it received documents from a whistleblower showing that T1 has extensive ties with Trina Solar, a company recently added to the U.S. Department of War’s list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States.

Viceroy Research published on Abaxx Technologies (Toronto: ABXX — CAD$1.76 billion), a Canadian financial infrastructure company building a futures exchange in Singapore for physically-deliverable contracts for energy, battery metals, carbon credits, and precious metals. Viceroy alleged that Abaxx’s exchange volume “is comprised of wash-traded churn sustained by incentives, which collapses the moment incentives are switched off” and speculated that exchange volume is driven, in part, by undisclosed related parties. Viceroy also said that CBOE walked away from its “strategic investment” in Abaxx.

On Twitter, Abaxx CEO and founder, Josh Crumb, called the report part of a “short and distort conspiracy” and alleged, in part:

“~half of all volume for better parts of full months is short selling and bid whacking, stuffing PR opens and failing to deliver etc, but price doesn’t go down much, so they solicit Canadian bank sales desks and the HF street in a flimsy ‘idea’ to join the short, focusing a lot of the pitch on personally attacking the CEO.”

Mr. Crumb also raised concerns about the conduct of “bad actors” in the activist short space.

Recent Resignations

Notable executive departures disclosed in the past week include:

CFO of Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ: GO — $948 million) is retiring after one and a half years. In addition, the company’s Chief Merchandising Officer is departing after one year. The company has had three CEOs and four CFOs in the last five years.
CFO of Credit Acceptance (NASDAQ: CACC — $5.73 billion) “decided to retire” at the age of 52 after two and a half years. The subprime auto lender is audited by Grant Thornton.
CEO of Perrigo (NYSE: PRGO — $1.52 billion) resigned after nearly three years and departed the board following “a determination by the board that certain personal conduct was not consistent with the company’s code of conduct and core values.”
CFO of Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE — $82.4 billion), Daniel Durn, “is departing the company to pursue a new professional opportunity” after nearly five years. Mr. Durn is becoming the new CFO of Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL — $245 billion), where he has served on the board for the last two years. In March, Adobe announced its CEO would step down after 18 years once the company identifies a successor. That search remains ongoing.
CFO of Summit Hotel Properties (NYSE: INN — $672 million) resigned “effective as of June 15, 2026” after five years and entered into a separation agreement that includes “a consulting fee of $25,000 per calendar month” for the next three and a half months. The REIT has a total return with dividends reinvested of +19% since its February 2011 IPO vs +635% for the S&P 500.
CFO of Cannae Holdings (NYSE: CNNE — $634 million) resigned with immediate effect after nearly six years. In May 2025, the Las Vegas-based holding company switched auditors from Deloitte to Grant Thornton. Today, the company is overseen by a 14-person board.
Mr. William Dabbs Cavin, board member of Open Lending Corp (NASDAQ: LPRO — $258 million), resigned “effective immediately” after just five days. Mr. Cavin had been appointed s in connection with “a cooperation agreement” between Open Lending and Palogic Value Management. The company has had four CEOs and four CFOs in the last five years.
Chief Operating Officer of AGNT Inc (NASDAQ: AGNT — $761 million), formerly eXp World Holdings, departed with immediate effect after nearly four years. In April 2022, The Bear Cave raised concerns about the company’s “dubious accounting, regulatory snafus, an SEC subpoena, high insider selling, and a questionable recruiting pipeline promoted by a prominent Scientologist.” The company has since fallen ~75%.

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

News of the Week

“The 24-Year-Old AI Wiz Who Counts Jane Street as an Investor” (WSJ)

“Situational Awareness has gained about 270% after fees this year through May and is up more than 1,000% after fees since inception, one of the people said. One of the fund’s most successful bets is a stake in Anthropic that today accounts for about one-fifth of its assets, the person said.”