AMC Entertainment’s shares rose nearly 6% after the company posted a smaller-than-expected loss in the second quarter.
Here’s what the company said, relative to Wall Street expectations, based on an analyst survey by Refinitiv:
- Loss per share: 71 cents vs. 91 cents expected
- Revenue: Expected $ 444.7 million versus $ 382.1 million
AMC recorded a net loss of $ 344 million, or 71 cents per share, compared to a loss of $ 561.2 million, or $ 5.38 per share, the previous year. According to Refinitiv, analysts had expected a loss of 91 cents per share.
The cinema chain reported revenues of $ 444.7 million, more than analysts’ expectations of $ 382.1 million.
“AMC’s journey through this pandemic is ongoing and we are not out of the woods yet,” CEO Adam Aron said in a statement Monday. “While there are no guarantees of what the future will bring in a still infectious world, one can imagine a happy Hollywood ending to this story.”
The AMC Burbank 16 and the bronze Batman statue in Downtown Burbank.
AaronP / Bauer-Griffin | GC images | Getty Images
At the end of June, all of AMC’s 593 US theaters were open to the public and 335 of its international theaters, or approximately 95%, were operational.
“We’re not driving a winning lap … We’re still losing money, we’re still burning money,” said Aron during a phone call on Monday. “But we can see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Aron said the company expects to be profitable in the fourth quarter of 2021 as long as the domestic box office hits at least $ 5.2 billion.
As of June 30, AMC had approximately $ 1.8 billion in cash and approximately $ 2 billion in liquidity, the company said. These funds can be used by the company to buy or rent new theaters and upgrade existing locations with better seating and facilities.
The company has started expanding the number of screens it operates. In the second quarter, the company took out leases for two locations in Los Angeles: the 14-screen cinema in The Grove shopping complex in Fairfax and the 18-screen cinema in the Americana at Brand in Glendale. Both were previously operated by Pacific Theaters and are owned by real estate company Caruso. AMC did not disclose the terms of the lease.
In 2018, The Grove Theater was the second highest grossing theater and Americana was the fifth highest grossing theater in the Los Angeles area. AMC is expected to reopen these theaters in August.
For months, fans of the stock who call themselves “monkeys” have helped propel the stock to record highs. These new investors stayed bullish on traditionally heavily short stocks like AMC and used their growing numbers to make waves on Wall Street.
Thanks to millions of these retail investors, the company’s shares have risen nearly 1,500% since January. However, the stock, which closed at $ 33.80 on Monday, has been halved from its high of $ 72.62 in early June.
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