Is maximizing stock price the same thing as maximizing profit?

Answer 1

Technically no. Stock prices are governed by a lot of things in addition to profits/bottom lines. You can see that companies with high stock prices don't necessarily have the highest profits. Other factors include revenue growth, corporate governance, cash flow, business expansions, and hype.
It's true that when the financial report is out and you have a profit jump, most likely your stock price will jump too, but with the current trading environment where traders don't look at financial statements anymore, it's mostly short-lived if you can't sustain that profit growth.