Forecasting makes sense from an internal business planning perspective but beyond that it never made sense to me, especially the way revenue target expectations influence the markets (as you pointed out in your post). The targets go up every quarter and it doesn't seem to matter how much the company made last quarter, they need to make more the next. But it's impossible for anything to grow continuously. But the pressure to grow makes companies constantly "spin" and manipulate their financial information to make it look like revenue is increasing. Then, like you pointed out, when targets are not met for whatever reason, the market reacts negatively, even if the company's revenue and profit increased from last quarter.
It's like
Company: "yaaaa, this quarter we made 5 billions dollars more than last quarter. The company is doing great!"
Analysist: "yes you made an extra 5 billion but you said you were going to make 5.1 billion. Your company sucks!" Downgraded
Market: "Sell everything!!!!!!"
Me: 🤔... yes yes. This world makes no sense.
🤣🤣🤣
lol. Yes, exactly!