Expectation of stock value, sure, but also inherently valuable in that the services or products they provide are things that people value. For instance, a utility company that owns electrical plants and produces electricity and distributes it provides an inherently valuable service. Who pays for that is a separate concern, as is the stock price, but the service itself is valuable.
There’s no definition of “inherently valuable” which doesn’t rely on arbitrary axioms. Especially because no amount of inherentness can guarantee a minimum price.
Do you find food valuable? Clothing? Shelter?
Some things are valuable because we’re frail creatures who need stuff in order to survive. I don’t believe in gatekeeping those vital things behind a monopolistic mega-corporation but my country sure as hell does. The monopolistic mega-corporations that provide human necessities become inherently valuable by proxy.
