"Windows 10 is the best Windows ever" isn't a projection, though. People wouldn't rush out to buy MS stock based on a statement like this. I hope not, anyway.

"Windows 10 is the best Windows ever" isn't a projection, though. People wouldn't rush out to buy MS stock based on a statement like this. I hope not, anyway. "We're going to sell 800 million Windows 10 licenses this quarter" would be a projection. People might buy MS stock based on something like this. Publicly traded companies routinely provide earnings guidance based on production/sales forecasts. And earnings guidance absolutely has an impact on share price. So if a company is knowingly providing unlikely guidance figures, they're also knowingly misleading the market. I'm just speaking generally here. I don't know enough about the Tesla case to comment one way or another.