Truthfully, I dont have time to read this whole thread, so hopefully this wasn't covered. The small buyers and sellers don't determine stock price. In the long-run, its the big money that could afford to buy a controlling interest in an entrerprise. Of course, if you could buy a controlling interest, you could change how company cash is allocated, and allocate more to your own pocket. So the big money competes with each other in the open market. If a company can put a $billion a year in your pocket from free cash flow, then the big money will price that company appropriately in the market IN THE LONG RUN. Why do you think Buffett is a billionaire? He'll buy a company for its free cash flow if it's cheap enough.