Short answer: reg fd requires companies to disclose information material to investors to all investors. The previous post is suggesting that the close work with the bank analysts is conveying material information without proper disclosure.
My hunch is that the legions is compliance lawyers at both the banks and at the companies have deemed this to be within the bounds of the regulation, but we’ll see if the SEC/US Attorneys agree.
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.
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.
