T. J. Rau

PGIM, Inc. is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. The firm was founded in 1984 and is a direct subsidiary of PGIM Holding Co. LLC, ultimately owned by Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). PGIM provides institutional clients with investment solutions worldwide. It is comprised of autonomous asset management businesses each specializing in a particular asset class with a focused investment approach: PGIM Institutional Advisory & Solutions (provides advisory services to institutional clients located in the US and outside of the US), PGIM Fixed Income (an adviser primarily focused on public fixed income investments), PGIM Real Estate (a provider of real estate investment advisory services) and PGIM Capital Group (a private fixed income investment adviser, also known as Prudential Capital Group).

Toys "R" Us, Inc. engages in the distribution and retail of toys and baby products. The firm's products include Hello Kitty City Cruiser, Bugaboo Cameleon and Bugaboo Donkey Strollers, Buckyballs high-powered magnet sets and Hug and Tugs, Puppy and Monkey. It offers a selection of private label merchandise under names such as Babies "R" Us, Journey Girls, Imaginarium, Fast Lane, You and Me, Just Like Home, True Heroes, Totally Me!, Dream Dazzlers, and Fao Schwarz. The company was founded by Charles P. Lazarus in February 1948 and is headquartered in Wayne, NJ.

Friess Associates LLC is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Greenville, Delaware. The firm was founded by Foster Friess in 1974. They provide portfolio management services to charitable/religious organizations, high net-worth individuals, retirement plans, investment companies, private investment funds and other private institutions.

UBS Securities LLC is an investment bank and registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 as UBS Warburg LLC. They are a subsidiary of UBS Americas Holding LLC, ultimately held by UBS Group AG (SWX: UBSG, NYSE: UBS) in Switzerland. UBS Securities is a primary dealer in US Government securities and provides a full range of investment banking services which includes corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, trading and sales, fixed-income, equity research, private banking, underwriting and prime brokerage operations. The firm also provides advisory services and access to capital markets for corporate, institutional, intermediary and alternative asset management clients.

Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP (SFG) is an institutional broker-dealer headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. The firm was founded in 2002 and is a direct subsidiary of SFG Holding LLC, which is owned by Bodel, Inc. SFG offers a full range of order execution and trading flow services, with a focus on delivering innovative trading strategies and execution services to institutional clients.

BNP Paribas Securities Corp. engages in the provision of brokerage services. It offers commercial banking, corporate and institutional banking, asset management, fleet services, and real estate. The company was founded on September 7, 1984 and is headquartered New York, NY.

Founded in 1922, Weeden & Co. LP is a broker/dealer headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut with additional offices in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco. The firm offers a full array of investment services with independent value-added research covering various sectors. Weeden's research goal is to produce independent, actionable long/short ideas that are free from the inherent conflicts created by investment banking. The firm vigilantly monitors proprietary, quantitative and fundamental indicators across all asset classes to identify and communicate important inflection points within the marketplace to clients. Their equities trading division specializes in difficult-to-execute orders. They are a member of the FINRA, NASDAQ and the SIPC.

Founded in 2002, Empirical Research Partners LLC (ERP) is an independent investment research firm located in New York City. The firm provides services to institutional clients. ERP's research approach is based on empirical evidence. They seek to combine the macro and micro and the short- and long-run evidence into a comprehensive viewpoint. The firm employs inclusive, proprietary databases and sophisticated stock selection models that are based on judgments about human nature. ERP's ongoing research effort attempts to determine how best to translate those judgments into useful decision-making rules. The firm's portfolio strategy is based on microeconomics and seeks to exploit a variety of anomalies to identify stocks that should outperform the market. These anomalies may include misvaluation, overinvestment or retrenchment by management and excessive extrapolation of trends by investors. ERP employs a proprietary, customized database that contains large quantities of company-level data. The firm looks for situations in which the current state of affairs is untenable and the reward for patience is great. ERP's quantitative research seeks to help active portfolio managers make better decisions by exploiting recurring aspects of human nature. Their tools quantify these variables and combine them into screens or formal multifactor models that identify companies with desirable or undesirable traits. The models balance conflicting signals in a dynamic fashion, putting greater emphasis on the factor with the highest expected return at each point in time. The firm's research approach with respect to the developed markets outside of the U.S. is similar, but not identical, to the process they use in researching U.S. companies. ERP's international research considers the economic, legal, accounting, cultural and historical differences within each region and covers the broad range of issues affecting stocks and markets globally. Their stock-selection models combine measures of valuation, capital deployment, earnings quality and market reaction into a single expected return. They compare each stock to its peers within the global sector, within the geographic region and to all stocks across the entire market.

SSR LLC is a differentiated investment research platform headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm was founded in 2009 as Sector & Sovereign Research LLC. They are a subsidiary of Sector & Sovereign LLC. SSR provides their clients with actionable investment ideas derived from anomalies identified while researching and analyzing a broad range of interrelated industries.

Jefferies LLC is a global investment bank and institutional securities firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1962 and is a subsidiary of Jefferies Group LLC, ultimately held by Jefferies Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF). Jefferies provides corporate clients with research and execution services in equity, fixed income, and foreign exchange markets, as well as a full range of investment banking services such as underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and recapitalization, and other advisory services, with all businesses operating in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is a registered broker-dealer subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) in the US. Headquartered in New York City, the firm was founded in 1987 and provides debt and equity services including underwriting, M&A advice, securities dealing and brokerage and trade execution. Their client base ranges from large global institutional investors to hedge funds at the cutting edge of innovation in the industry.

Harvard University engages in the provision of teaching and research. It has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, offering a global education. The university was founded in 1636 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC is a registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1967 and is a subsidiary of Alliance Capital Management LLC, ultimately held by Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH). Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. provides trading and executions services to their clients.

Barclays Capital, Inc. is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1997 and is a subsidiary of Barclays Group US, Inc., ultimately owned by Barclays plc (LON: BARC) in Great Britain. Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients a full spectrum of prime brokerage services which includes equities and fixed income financing, OTC Clearing, Futures and Foreign Exchange Prime Brokerage and access to industry insights and analytics from their Strategic Consulting team.

Mars & Co. Consulting LLC is a strategy consulting firm that provides consulting services.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. (Stifel) is a dual-registered broker-dealer and investment adviser headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1890, the firm is a subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF), a financial service holding company. Stifel provides full-service brokerage and investment advisory services to individuals and their families, institutions and businesses, and financial advisors.

Evercore Group LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1995 and is a subsidiary of Evercore BD Investco LLC, which is owned by Evercore, Inc. (NYSE: EVR). Evercore Group delivers equity research and equity sales and agency trading execution, in addition to providing wealth and investment management services to high net worth and institutional investors.

Salzinger & Co. Inc., provides consulting and strategy services. It develops business plans, analysis of financial strategies and investments, creates strategic alliances and joint ventures. The company was founded by Steve Salzinger in 2007 and is headquartered in Scardale, NY.

Part of Deutsche Bank AG, Deutsche Bank Corp. is a company based in New York, NY.

BNP Paribas Asset Management USA, Inc. (BNPP AM USA) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1972 as Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, Inc. (FFTW). In 2015, FFTW’s affiliated US registered investment advisor, BNP Paribas Asset Management Inc., was merged into FFTW. FFTW was re-branded as BNP Paribas Asset Management USA, Inc. in 2017. The firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas Asset Management USA Holdings, Inc. (BNPP AM), part of the International Financial Services division of BNP Paribas SA (EPA: BNP) (BNPP) in France. BNPP AM USA provides customized investment management services to institutional clients. The firm also provides non-discretionary investment management activities and/or acts as collateral manager for structured products such as CDOs and CLOs.

Part of Gordon Haskett Capital Corp., Gordon Haskett Research Advisors is an independent research boutique that publishes highly differentiated, independent research from top analysts for a targeted group of institutional investors. The company is based in New York, NY. GHRA's current research platforms include event-driven, retail, restaurants, industrials and multi-industry, and insurance. The company's analysts generate unique insights and ideas by analyzing and often anticipating significant strategic events such as activism, M&A, spin-offs, and restructurings. Chuck Grom leads a senior team focused on broadline, grocer, dollar, and hardline retailers utilizing proprietary GHRA data. Jeff Farmer uses a custom and highly regarded valuation driver and ROIC framework for deep dives into thematic restaurant sector debates while also leveraging GHRA proprietary data. John Inch has been a leading industrial equity research analyst for over 20 years and is supported by his longstanding senior team and unique data. Bill Wilt combines deep industry relationships with in-depth research valued both by investors and industry executives. The company was founded by John P. Argenti.

Lazard Asset Management LLC (LAM) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1970 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, ultimately held by Lazard, Inc. (NYSE: LAZ). LAM manages investment portfolios and provides investment advice to institutional and individual investors around the world.

Founded in 2002, Maxim Group LLC is a registered broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm provides an array of financial services including: investment banking, equity research, private wealth management, structured products and global institutional equity, fixed-income and derivative sales and trading to a diverse range of corporate clients, institutional investors and high net-worth individuals. Maxim Group's niche is emerging-growth companies in a variety of sectors including healthcare, technology, retail and others. They utilize a fundamental, bottom-up approach to investment recommendations. The firm combines rigorous financial analysis of specific companies and industries with due diligence that includes frequent consults with suppliers, customers, competitors and senior management. The firm focuses on under-covered, small- to-mid-cap companies where valuation levels may be out of sync with fundamental trends. Maxim's coverage universe often represents attractive niche industries where stocks tend to be inefficient. This research coverage fills a void created by the downsized research ranks and shrinking coverage of small- to mid-cap stocks by large investment banks. Maxim Group is a member of FINRA, the MSRB, the SIPC, the ISE, NASDAQ and NYSE Arca.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1927, the firm is a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). GS&Co. provides services to help hedge funds manage risk, monitor portfolios, maintain liquidity and build their businesses. They offer clients access to global equity and derivatives markets, as well as foreign exchange, commodities, European Lefts, rates and credit across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The firm proactively monitors capital markets, searching for pockets of liquidity and news that may require changes to those strategies. Integration with the Goldman Sachs network gives clients access to the firm's sectored block trades and their insights into price discovery. Their electronic trading program provides clients with tools to manage their trades from pre-trade analytics to post-trade analysis.

Cornell University is an educational institution that offers undergraduate and post graduate programs. It was founded in 1865 and is based in Ithaca, NY.

Ahold USA, Inc. operates retail grocery stores selling food, pharmacy, health, and beauty care items. It also operates an online internet grocer. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Quincy, MA.

Mars & Co. provides business and operational strategy as well as strategic advisory services. The company was founded by Dominique Mars in 1979 and is headquartered in Paris, France.