Research of Manipulation of Stock Assets on the Example of Shares of American High-Tech Companies of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange

The subject of the study is the processes of manipulation of stock asset prices on the example of shares of American high-tech companies of the NASDAQ exchange. The concept of manipulation of stock assets is formulated and the signs of manipulation of them are presented. The main purpose of the work is to identify signs of manipulation of the stock prices of Facebook, Nasdaq and Google companies from the moment of the initial public offering of the company's shares on the stock exchange (IPO) to the present. The methodology of the study includes statistical methods of data analysis: comparative analysis, correlation and regression analysis. Based on the annual quotes and financial reports of Facebook, Google and Nasdaq, a comparative and correlation analysis of the annual values of investment multipliers is carried out. Particular attention is paid to the comparative and statistical analysis of the data of these companies at the initial time stage after their IPO on the NASDAQ exchange. The result of the analysis showed a fairly strong correlation between them on this indicator. At the same time, a significant overvaluation of Facebook shares was established in the first years after its initial public offering on the stock exchange, in relation to the analog companies of Google and Nasdaq, as well as to the companies listed on the S&P500 stock market of the USA. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the presented methodology allows identifying signs of manipulation with the share prices of companies-analogues of any sufficiently liquid stock market. The topic of the article is of interest to stock market participants, stock analysts, potential investors and purchasers of companies, as well as to stock market regulators dealing with the reliability and security of its processes.