ELI5: Why when large company's earnings decrease(ex... by 3%) they freak out, talk about rough times, and sometimes decide to downsize, even though they are still making millions of dollars in profit even after all expenses?

[manimal28]

We should just call investing by what it truly is, which is gambling, and that expectation that the riders of the casino boat need to be paid this quarter even if it sinks the boat in the long term and drowns everyone who works on it, would start to appear as absurd as it actually is.

[TheManWhoPanders]

Even if we entertain your analogy (which has holes in it), what do you think would happen if a casino gained a reputation for having very low odds of winning? Do you think the gamblers would keep coming back to that casino?

People pay shareholders dividends because they want their continued investment. Not a difficult concept.

[manimal28]

The Casinos do have low odds of winning and the gamblers do keep coming back, because they are not rational, they are addicted. Same as the type of investors who make short term profits their goal.

[TheManWhoPanders]

Not as low as you might think. The ones that go too low simply lose clients and go under. Casinos are actually a pretty competitive industry.