[nl]

That's incorrect for these style of calls. The help is more akin to marketing - the company is arguing that they are doing better than the analyst thinks, and the analyst's company is offering their help to explain that to them and to other analysts.

[oldgradstudent]

That's exactly what I meant. They are not necessarily disclosing real information, they are trying to increase the stock price.

[nl]

That isn't what stock market manipulation[1] means.

  Market manipulation may involve techniques including:
    Spreading false or misleading information about a company;
    Engaging in a series of transactions to make a security appear more actively traded; and
    Rigging quotes, prices, or trades to make it look like there is more or less demand for a security than is the case.

Presenting real information in a way that makes it more clear to investors is absolutely not market manipulation, and no interested party would ever claim otherwise.

[1] https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/general-resour...