[tptacek]

Nobody is arguing that stock traders are "all about dividends". The argument is that the intrinsic value of a share of stock is ultimately about dividends.

Stock traders buy for appreciation. But that appreciation is fundamentally rooted in dividends, either of the company itself, or of some other dividend-paying company that will eventually acquire it.

[JoeAltmaier]

Ok, we can start qualifying what 'value' means. Adding 'intrinsic' distances the conversation from the common meaning of value, which is 'what you can get for it'.

Again, insisting that appreciation is rooted in anything but what the market does, is hard to buy into.

[tptacek]

I'm a little confused; this isn't stuff I just made up. Again, think about what a share of stock actually gets you. People trade stacks because their price fluctuates... but why do they fluctuate? Because the company is earning more? Why does that make a share more valuable?

[JoeAltmaier]

Because people think it does; nothing more. Really, stock shares (most of them) are like baseball cards. Famous players with a good season have cards worth more. But there's no reason for that, than, people believe it.

I'm sure you didn't make it up; this notion has been around for a while. Its just a curious quirk of human nature to believe in things that don't quite make sense.