Shares of AMC Entertainment surged Monday after the theater operator surprised Wall Street with strong second-quarter earnings. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey isn't hurting the meme stock either.
AMC stock soared 26.8% to $2.46 after the company posted adjusted earnings of 14 cents per share in the quarter ended June 30, well above Wall Street's expectations of a 4-cent loss. Revenue grew 14% to $1.59 billion, beating the analyst consensus call for $1.5 billion, according to FactSet.
AMC saw adjusted quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, increase 70% to $321.4 million, while the theater operator also generated $190.1 million in free cash flow.
Total Attendance increased nearly 14% in the quarter. Separately, AMC reported that more than 4.3 million moviegoers worldwide attended its theaters from Thursday through Sunday, due primarily to excitement around The Odyssey .
IMAX on Monday declined 1.3%, and Cinemark Holdings stock rose 4.3%. Cinemark was a recent Barron's stock pick .
AMC shares hit a record closing high of $339.05 on June 2, 2021, but have sunk around 99% since then. The stock has long been viewed as a meme stock, along with GameStop and others, with share price movement fueled by retail investors and online trends rather than underlying business performance. However, the stock move on Monday appears to be one of the rare moments when AMC shares are surging due to business fundamentals.
CEO Adam Aron on Monday called the results "extraordinary" and the best in the company's 106-year history.
"After some admittedly tough years as our industry recovered only slowly from the ravages of COVID-19 and its aftermath, the relentless focus of AMC on delighting our guests as we execute with all cylinders blazing is reflected in our record-setting second quarter financial results," Aron said in the earnings release.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
