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  "docId": "019dd923-622c-750b-8b98-d3d87669988f",
  "docSlug": "e2fe4c87e4ef",
  "documentTitle": "Plug Power Inc. (PLUG)",
  "authorId": "54_Spruce_Point_Capital",
  "authorName": "Spruce Point Capital Management",
  "documentKindSlug": "activist-deck",
  "documentKindLabel": "Activist deck",
  "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller",
  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2019-12-19 00:00:00",
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  "pageNumber": 21,
  "pageCount": 40,
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  "slideType": "expose_contradiction",
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  "nDataPoints": 45,
  "notes": "The slide uses a comparative accounting framework to show how GAAP vs. Non-GAAP treatment of lease financing creates artificial revenue and profit inflation.",
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      "kind": "callout",
      "text": "By Q2 2016, nearly half of PLUG’s Adjusted Revenue, and all of its Adjusted Gross Profit, was attributable to these add-backs.",
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      "kind": "diagram",
      "text": "PLUG Adjusted Sale/Leaseback Accounting",
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      "text": "ASC 840 Capital Sale/Leaseback Accounting",
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      "kind": "metric",
      "text": "Adjusted Gross Profit",
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      "kind": "paragraph",
      "text": "PLUG's shift to providing financing for an increasing share of Company revenue had significant consequences for the Company's financial reporting. Under ASC Topic 840, companies are instructed to recognize revenue on operating-type sale/leaseback transactions only up to the corresponding cost of goods. All revenue in excess of the associated COGS is then deferred, as is the corresponding profit. Accordingly, by engaging in operating-type sale/leasebacks with third parties rather than selling its equipment outright to customers, PLUG was unable to recognize some of the revenue and all of the profit associated with these sales. To make up for this, management devised \"Adjusted Revenue\" and \"Adjusted Gross Profit\" for its Q4 2015 earnings call, treating leased equipment as though it was sold. PLUG grew even more aggressive in 2016, when it began to engage in capital-type sale/leasebacks, on which it can recognize no revenue or profit under GAAP rules: management added all of the revenue and profit associated with these deals back to its Non-GAAP metrics. By Q2 2016, nearly half of PLUG's Adjusted Revenue, and all of its Adjusted Gross Profit, was attributable to these add-backs.",
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      "text": "Financial reconciliation table showing GAAP vs. Adjusted metrics for Q4 2015, Q1 2016, and Q2 2016.",
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      "kind": "title",
      "text": "Aggressive Non-GAAP Adjustments Reverse Negative Consequences of Shift to Leases",
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      "position": 0,
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