Why ignore manipulation? It's just another learning curve. Shorting? True, it's prohibitively expensive for most retail investors. Repeat, retail. That seems to be the hangup. For proprietary traders (prop shops) who have  virtually unlimited resources and information in addition to ready access to the enormous securities lending industry (search), unfortunately it's S.O.P. A company's fundamentals can be outstanding and still the PPS can get hammered. I wish it were as easy as discussing the company.