If you want to find out if a company is really growing or not, you go back five years and check the debt/equity and book value. Many of these companies have issued billions in debt for their buy backs. I believe McDonalds actually has a negative book value due to all the debt. Wall street completely ignores this thanks to Non-GAAP accounting. Yesterday I say Dillards claim they beat earnings and raised estimates, but missed revenues. How does a retailer do this? It's called gaming the books. All of these companies seem to be doing this. The one's that aren't playing the games are the ones getting their prices killed by telling the truth. The computers only want to see positive news and will destroy a stock if it's negative. Currently, almost 90% of the volume is coming from automated trades. These companies announce a buy back and the stock takes off. They announce that they beat earnings, not mentioning that they bought back 3% of their stock during the quarter. It's all smoke and mirrors to keep the computer buyers happy and buying.
The entire market has become a rigged casino. We knew this when JPM announced that they had only 2 losing days last year. Statistically, that is impossible unless you are the one running the game. Watching this rally from January makes me wonder if the Fed set up the markets for the drop, only to save it for their masters. That sell off should have only resulted in maybe a 50% retracement and it shouldn't have happened in only 2 months. The volume has been very lethargic and I am seeing articles that individual buyers have dried up. If someone turned off the computers, the bloodbath would be unreal.