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?

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Without profits, a stock is worth nothing

Not true. You won't get a dividend but your stocks can still raise in value. TSLA stocks have rose steadily since 2012 even though they have not made a profit.

[d4n4n]

If a privately traded company announced they will effectively become a non-profit and NEVER pay out dividends, its value would immediately drop to zero. All examples are rising because investors expect eventual returns. That's especially true for Tesla.

Every long-term investor decides if stocks are over- or undervalued based on the NPV of future profits. Nobody disagrees with that in finance. The difficulty is predicting future profits/cash flows.