CoffeeScript makes the exact same claim, right on their front page (emphasis mine):
"The compiled output is readable and pretty-printed, passes through JavaScript Lint without warnings, will work in every JavaScript runtime, and tends to run as fast or faster than the equivalent handwritten JavaScript."
This is not absurd at all, it has been a proposition made by many languages in the past regarding their target. In fact it's kind of the whole point of an optimizing compiler. Whether its C being turned into better ASM than you'd write by hand, or CoffeeScript being turned into better JavaScript than you'd write by hand, the basic idea is the same. Of course you could theoretically just write the better ASM/JavaScript/whatever yourself, but the point is that usually how to do so is not obvious or not worth your time. If the average programmer's output ends up more performant with your compiler, then the claim is fair.
"The compiled output is readable and pretty-printed, passes through JavaScript Lint without warnings, will work in every JavaScript runtime, and tends to run as fast or faster than the equivalent handwritten JavaScript."
This is not absurd at all, it has been a proposition made by many languages in the past regarding their target. In fact it's kind of the whole point of an optimizing compiler. Whether its C being turned into better ASM than you'd write by hand, or CoffeeScript being turned into better JavaScript than you'd write by hand, the basic idea is the same. Of course you could theoretically just write the better ASM/JavaScript/whatever yourself, but the point is that usually how to do so is not obvious or not worth your time. If the average programmer's output ends up more performant with your compiler, then the claim is fair.