"I was looking into another stock recently with 30m shares on...

"I was looking into another stock recently with 30m shares on issue and people were using that as a legitimate reason for why it's a good buy and I genuinely don't understand why it isn't anything more than arbitrary."

Generally speaking, if a company has a large number of shares on issue, it's because they've had to do many cap raises at low valuations. It's a sign they're not using their money well and/or not making progress over time. That said, it's a correlation not a causation. A high number of shares on issue is a red flag to check for an irresponsible history of cap raises, but you shouldn't assume they've been irresponsible solely on the basis of the number of shares on issue.


"Mark said he was proud of having only 300 million shares issued, but what difference does it make if there's 300 million or 3 million?"

Mark is proud, because he's run a tight ship. In 10 years, he's managed to minimize unnecessary cap raises and maximize his returns on the ones that have been necessary.