Glass Lewis Recommends Casella Shareholders Vote for Both JCP Investment Management Nominees on GOLD Proxy

"Casella's returns have trailed both the broader market and the Peer Composite over all selected periods, generally by indisputably substantial margins. We believe this data works strongly against the board's argument that investors have already realized any purported benefit from "strong execution" of the strategic plan, and instead suggests Casella investors have suffered very poor returns over both short and long-term unaffected review periods."

"Perhaps just as damaging to the board's case is the fact that between April 27, 2015 and the recent market close on October 20, 2015 -- a period covering substantially all of JCP's public involvement with the Company -- Casella's shares climbed 16.2%, while the Peer Composite gained just 1.4% and the S&P 500 Index lost 3.7%."

Glass Lewis agrees that a quantitative analysis of Casella's performance does not favor the Board:

"That narrative worsens considerably with reference to the Company's unadjusted EBITDA growth, which trails the peer average over every selected review period. Indeed, over the longest horizons, an argument could be made for Casella's poor performance in absolute terms, as the Company's unadjusted EBITDA has actually contracted on a CAGR basis by 1.4% per year over the last ten years. This decidedly mediocre performance in matched in lockstep with marked declines in Casella's EBITDA margins over the same period, which declines are in no way matched by the stable average posted by the Peer Composite."

Glass Lewis recognizes that recent changes at Casella were merely reactive and questions the motivations of the Board:

"On the corporate governance front, we acknowledge the board frequently highlights its apparent willingness to proactively implement progressive governance changes as part of its regular review procedures."

"we would cast these changes -- which were announced on September 1, 2015, well after JCP's public involvement -- as rather starkly reactive and unlikely to represent the board's willingness to implement more substantive changes to Casella's corporate governance." (emphasis added)

"the incumbent board -- facing significant external pressure from JCP -- sidesteps the issue entirely in favor of undertaking less noteworthy and, to our knowledge, entirely unrequested  governance reforms, a framework we believe offers a more accurate depiction of the incumbent board's commitment to progressive corporate governance protocols. Taken collectively, we believe these issues represent a substantial failure on the part of the committee to fulfill their obligations to shareholders." (emphasis added)

Glass Lewis concludes that the time for change at Casella is now and shareholders should vote the GOLD proxy card:

"Notwithstanding the board's attempt to frame the incumbent management group as architects of a decisive turn-around warranting continued investor support, we believe a more detailed evaluation of Casella suggests unaffiliated shareholders are in sore need of alternative board-level perspectives that might produce more fruitful operating strategies and mitigate the overwhelming influence of the board's long-term members. In this regard, we believe JCP successfully argues appointment of its nominees -- which would represent a clear minority on the continuing board -- would offer shareholders both additional industry insight and fresh shareholder representation within a stagnant, underperforming board room.'"

"Accordingly, we recommend shareholders vote FOR all nominees using the Dissident's GOLD proxy card."

CASELLA SHAREHOLDERS, GLASS LEWIS HAS SPOKEN, THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW. VOTE YOUR GOLD JCP PROXY CARD FOR BOTH OF THE JCP NOMINEES TODAY.

If you have any questions, or require assistance with your vote, please call InvestorCom, Inc., toll- free at (877) 972-0090 or direct at (203) 972-9300

About JCP Investment Management:

JCP Investment Management, LLC is an investment firm headquartered in Houston, TX that engages in value-based investing across the capital structure.  JCP follows an opportunistic approach to investing across different equity, credit and distressed securities largely in North America.

Investor Contact:

John Glenn Grau
InvestorCom, Inc.
(203) 972-9300 ext. 11

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SOURCE JCP Investment Management, LLC