Professionals Play the Stock Manipulation Game, Too
But Jonathan is right to wonder exactly how his game
differs from those played by Wall Street equity analysts
who place absurd "price targets" on stocks. Sure, Wall
Street analysts have degrees in finance, while Jonathan
as yet does not, and they themselves may not be selling
into the buying frenzy their calls create. But if their
firms benefit by underwriting stock offerings that are
sold to investors on the strength of rising share prices
that their "targets" have helped to propel, the analysts
are enriched with bigger bonuses.
And how, precisely, do Jonathan's activities differ from
the gunning of stocks by big investors at the end of each
day or each quarter, a practice widely known as
window-dressing, to make their performance look
better and attract more investors?
For that matter, what about the accounting games that
corporate managements play to keep their stocks aloft?
The manipulations Jonathan was accused of involved
misleading statements. Many of today's most popular
accounting tricks mislead, too: for example, so-called
pro forma numbers that reflect only what companies
want investors to see, rather than the entire picture.
nytimes.com |
