Squire: Activism should be even busier in 2026 as investors rotate back to value
December 19, 2025 • 4m 52s
Frank Holland (Anchor)
00:00.070
all
right
so
give
us
a
sense
we
have
the
the
data
through
Q
three
what
are
we
seeing
in
Q
four
and
what's
the
outlook
for
twenty
twenty
six
you
expecting
it
to
be
another
busy
year
for
activist
investors
yeah
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
00:09.790
we
do
well
well
it's
been
it's
been
busy
we
expect
there
to
be
even
busy
in
two
thousand
twenty
six
as
as
investors
stop
pouring
money
into
mac
seven
stocks
like
they
have
been
which
has
been
slowing
down
and
they
start
looking
for
value
and
frankly
value
stocks
we
we
we
see
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
00:28.030
activism
a
lot
of
good
activist
opportunities
there
we
think
that'll
also
be
helped
with
lower
interest
rates
which
benefits
small
and
mid
cap
stocks
and
also
leads
to
more
M
and
A
which
we're
already
seeing
a
lot
of
activist
M
and
A
like
we
haven't
seen
before
OK
Frank Holland (Anchor)
00:41.710
explain
that
why
is
it
when
interest
rates
go
lower
do
activists
go
down
cap
as
opposed
to
up
cap
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
00:47.660
well
i
don't
think
the
activists
go
down
cap
i
think
the
the
the
the
the
caps
are
going
to
stay
the
same
the
interest
rates
just
generally
benefit
small
and
mid
cap
companies
so
you
start
seeing
more
investment
in
there
and
lower
interest
rate
environments
and
it
also
with
lower
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
01:00.220
interest
rates
there's
more
of
M
and
A
and
when
there's
more
M
and
A
not
only
is
there
strategic
activism
where
activists
come
in
and
say
you
should
sell
the
company
or
sell
it
or
sell
a
subsidiary
but
with
the
threat
of
M
and
A
looming
over
companies
it's
easier
for
activists
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
01:15.340
to
come
in
and
implement
their
agenda
Frank Holland (Anchor)
01:17.910
i
know
you
use
AI
we're
going
to
get
to
how
you
use
AI
and
figure
out
the
companies
that
are
most
vulnerable
but
our
activists
also
using
AI
does
that
make
it
easier
to
launch
an
activist
campaign
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
01:26.430
i
mean
around
the
margins
they
do
but
you
know
activist
campaigns
real
good
activist
campaigns
are
are
are
still
a
lot
of
you
know
analysis
and
meeting
with
investors
meeting
with
shareholders
meeting
with
management
and
it's
it's
it's
just
around
the
margins
i
would
say
all
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
01:41.190
right
i
Frank Holland (Anchor)
01:41.430
want
to
get
to
how
you're
using
AI
use
it
for
your
company
vulnerability
ratings
i
want
to
go
small
cap
first
you
say
yelp
has
one
of
the
highest
company
vulnerability
ratings
what
what
kind
of
sets
a
company
up
to
have
a
rating
of
ninety
seven
point
eight
out
of
a
scale
of
one
Frank Holland (Anchor)
01:55.560
hundred
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
01:56.550
so
so
we
so
we
we
developed
these
these
as
you
said
AI
developed
company
vulnerability
ratings
for
more
than
twenty
five
hundred
companies
and
it
takes
into
account
my
knowledge
over
the
last
twenty
years
of
of
analyzing
catalysts
activist
catalyst
and
having
relationships
with
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
02:12.230
activists
and
and
you
know
the
average
the
average
activist
engagement
that
that
since
we've
developed
these
these
ratings
has
been
over
eighty
out
of
a
hundred
so
they
they've
been
pretty
accurate
so
we
look
at
this
type
of
things
we
look
at
a
full
peer
analysis
operational
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
02:28.150
data
like
profitability
revenue
and
margins
valuation
analysis
analysis
stock
ownership
corporate
governance
factors
and
you're
right
yelp
has
a
ninety
seven
point
eight
CBR
it's
a
company
with
two
hundred
and
fifty
million
dollars
of
ebitda
they
still
have
three
hundred
million
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
02:42.350
dollars
of
net
cash
so
there's
certainly
a
capital
allocation
opportunity
there
and
it's
also
at
one
point
seven
billion
dollars
it's
a
great
brand
that
we
could
see
somebody
wanting
to
own
all
right
Frank Holland (Anchor)
02:51.310
and
the
mid
cap
you
have
moderna
at
ninety
four
point
nine
we've
been
talking
a
lot
about
healthcare
we've
seen
healthcare
move
higher
what
makes
moderna
an
attractive
target
for
an
activist
investor
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
03:00.910
so
there's
there's
a
lot
of
activism
going
on
in
the
healthcare
sector
and
you
you
know
we
all
know
the
story
about
moderna
it's
a
company
that
that
went
from
close
to
five
hundred
dollars
a
share
down
to
thirty
dollars
a
share
as
their
covid
vaccine
revenue
started
to
fall
off
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
03:15.430
but
the
company
has
been
able
to
save
three
point
seven
five
billion
dollars
of
net
cash
they
still
have
two
billion
to
over
two
billion
dollars
in
sales
and
the
problem
there
is
that
with
two
billion
dollars
themselves
that
R
and
D
is
over
three
billion
dollars
a
year
so
this
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
03:31.790
is
a
type
of
situation
where
an
activist
can
come
in
and
instill
some
some
discipline
from
a
board
level
and
get
that
R
and
D
to
a
manageable
level
and
get
the
company
back
to
profitability
all
right
Frank Holland (Anchor)
03:41.270
you
also
say
international
activism
is
up
you
particularly
look
at
japan
right
now
what's
going
on
in
japan
that's
going
to
lead
to
more
activism
when
it
comes
to
companies
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
03:49.590
well
so
japan
you
know
the
the
the
the
main
the
main
tailwind
for
japan
is
that
in
two
thousand
twenty
three
the
tokyo
stock
exchange
and
the
regulators
have
come
in
and
and
told
companies
they
need
to
get
their
roe
's
above
eight
and
their
their
price
to
book
values
above
one
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
04:04.550
sixty
percent
of
companies
in
japan
have
are
always
below
eight
percent
and
price
of
books
below
one
and
it's
really
it's
really
emboldened
activism
and
and
the
the
the
tokyo
stock
exchange
has
literally
said
you
need
to
start
listening
to
activists
to
to
these
companies
you
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
04:19.790
know
the
average
company
in
japan
is
forty
nine
percent
of
their
of
their
net
of
their
market
cap
and
net
cash
so
there's
a
ton
of
of
of
activism
that
can
be
done
there
and
that
is
being
done
there
that
that
that
is
there's
been
giving
returns
right
away
right
now
there's
over
a
Kenneth Squire (Founder & President)
04:35.550
hundred
and
fifty
live
activ
it's
going
on
in
japan
alone
Autoscroll