So, when Apple says their sales projection for the year ahead is an increase of 10%, do you think investors ignore that information?
NO, of course not.
The Safe Harbor Statements merely allow companies to give a best guess of the future...AND PROTECTS IT FROM LAWSUITS should that information not be attained.
It DOES NOT protect a company from making knowingly false statements.
Thus, an investor who buys Apple stock because they BELIEVE Apple's sales will increase by 10% because of the announced statement in the company's PR CANNOT sue Apple for making a false statement should Apple's sales increase less than 10%.
HOWEVER, if a company says sales have been made---and they have not been made; or the company says we have distributors working on getting our completed product to market---and they have no such distributor, the Safe Harbor Statement offers the company NO protection.
The Safe Harbor Statement in NO WAY is telling investors not to believe in the PR's content. It does, however, call investors to be discerning with that information.