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  "docSlug": "954987ce0454",
  "documentTitle": "Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. (MTD)",
  "authorId": "54_Spruce_Point_Capital",
  "authorName": "Ben Axler",
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  "presentationDate": "2019-07-24 00:00:00",
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  "pageNumber": 41,
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  "notes": "The slide uses a red box to highlight the stagnant R&D employee count for Mettler-Toledo and a callout box to emphasize the red flag.",
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      "kind": "callout",
      "text": "\"Research and development costs primarily consist of salaries, consulting and other costs. The Company expenses these costs as incurred\" p. F-11\n\"We have devoted an increasing proportion of our research and development budget to software development\" 10-K, p.7",
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      "kind": "callout",
      "text": "Not a single change in the # of R&D employees in 3yrs a red flag",
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      "kind": "metric",
      "text": "R&D Expense / Employee: $108,538",
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      "kind": "paragraph",
      "text": "Mettler's spending per R&D employee (which according to the company hasn't changed in three years), is suspiciously low relative to peers. At just above $100k per person, it's hard to imagine Mettler is recruiting and retaining top engineering talent. Based on disclosures, it appears that it is capitalizing significant software costs through capex.",
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      "kind": "quote",
      "text": "Research and development costs primarily consist of salaries, consulting and other costs. The Company expenses these costs as incurred — p. F-11; We have devoted an increasing proportion of our research and development budget to software development — 10-K, p.7",
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      "kind": "source-note",
      "text": "Source: Company financials\nNote: Thermo Fisher R&D disclosed on its website",
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      "text": "Table comparing R&D employees, R&D expense, and R&D expense per employee for Mettler-Toledo and peers from 2016-2018.",
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      "kind": "title",
      "text": "R&D Spend Way Low...",
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