The Bear Cave #336
New Activist Reports, Recent Resignations, and Tweets of the Week
Welcome to The Bear Cave! Our last premium articles were “Problems at StepStone (STEP)” and “Problems at DraftKings (DKNG) #4” and our next special investigation for paid readers comes out Thursday, August 6.
New Activist Reports
Bleecker Street Research published on Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT — $5.4 billion), the second-largest U.S. ridesharing operator. Bleecker Street alleged Lyft faces “$1.3 to $2.7 billion of exposure from consolidated rideshare sexual-assault litigation” against just $533 million of legal and tax accruals. Because Lyft’s balance sheet holds just $1.7 billion of cash, Bleecker Street claims Lyft will likely need to raise dilutive equity to service its litigation obligations.
Outlier Capital published on Bank OZK (NASDAQ: OZK — $5.5 billion), a commercial-real-estate construction lender. Outlier wrote, in part:
“Management says the bank is late in a long property downturn and expects a few more problem projects over the next 12 to 18 months. OZK has described the cycle as being near its end for years… the repeated extensions are finally reaching their limit. The weakest projects now need real buyers or long-term lenders before owner support and property values give way.”
Recent Resignations
Notable executive departures disclosed in the past week include:
SVP of Federal Defense Solutions at Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR — $295 billion) departed after 14 years, disclosing the June exit only through a LinkedIn update. This caps a string of quiet exits this year as Palantir has faced competition from leading AI labs — with the company’s Head of Enterprise, Head of International Public Sector, and Head of Space departing. In February 2026, Michael Burry of The Big Short fame published on the company’s growing receivables and rising days-sales-outstanding.
Chief Technology Officer and Chief Engineer of Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR — $3.6 billion) both disappeared from the company’s leadership page with no announcement. The CTO had led engineering at Archer since 2019.
Executive Vice President and CFO of Coastal Financial (NASDAQ: CCB — $1.1 billion) is departing after just 10 months. His separation agreement waives advance-notice requirements and requires repayment of a $15,000 signing bonus; the company says the exit is “not related to any disagreements.”
Chief Revenue Officer of Red Cat Holdings (NASDAQ: RCAT — $1.2 billion) was terminated for “cause” effective July 23, 2026, after less than two years in the job. Hitchcock sued Red Cat, alleging the firing was retaliatory; the company calls the claims meritless.
Senior Vice President and CFO of Lindsay Corporation (NYSE: LNN — $1.2 billion) is “resigning for personal reasons” effective August 31, 2026, less than a year after his October 2025 appointment.
News of the Week
“Momentum Crash Hits YOLO Traders’ Returns by Most in Four Years” (Bloomberg)
“Retail traders’ obsession with whatever is the next hot thing in the market — often associated with the acronym YOLO for ‘you only live once’ — is misfiring in a month when momentum went from the market’s darling to its punching bag…
The selloff took a toll on how active that amateur traders are in the stock market. Weekly rolling net buying of individual stocks has fallen to the lowest level since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Vanda Research.”
Tweets of the Week
Until next week,
The Bear Cave