Corporate raiders have been doing this for years. They have also forced companies to increase the dividend. It's an easy way to make it seem like profits are ri

Corporate raiders have been doing this for years. They have also forced companies to increase the dividend. It's an easy way to make it seem like profits are rising so the stock goes up. They don't care because they will exit the stock as soon as they can make a profit. The problem is that the companies never progress and eventually they lose their ability to compete. If it's a tech company it will eventually get beaten by another more nimble company. We have seen this over and over again. A good example is IBM. They've lost their ability to compete and have had to settle on servicing the customers that are still using older technologies like mainframes. Their niche is still profitable but don't expect IBM to be a powerhouse again. Buying stock is financial engineering that's used to goose the stock price short term but does nothing to keep the company competitive over time.