The stock of AMC Entertainment (AMC) is up 5% after the U.S.-based movie theater chain reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2024 revenue and said its ticket sales are rising.
The company announced that it lost -$0.35 a share in the final three months of last year. While that result was an improvement from a loss of -$0.83 a year earlier, it was worse than the consensus expectation among analysts for a loss of -$0.18 per share.
While AMC’s profit figure missed Wall Street’s target, the company’s quarterly revenue of $1.306 billion beat expectations that called for sales of $1.291 billion. In its earnings release, AMC CEO Adam Aron said that more than 62 million people visited an AMC theater worldwide during Q4 2024, a post-pandemic fourth-quarter record and a 20% increase compared to 2023.
Improving Attendance
AMC has struggled with dwindling attendance at its movie theaters since the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, and the latest numbers were viewed as an improvement for the company. “As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we look forward to what we believe will be material growth in the industry-wide box office,” said CEO Aron in the earnings statement.
Beyond movie ticket sales, AMC said that its food-and-beverage revenue during last year’s final quarter totaled $446.2 million, up from $370.2 million the previous quarter. Analysts were looking for food-and-beverage revenue of $437 million. AMC said that it ended 2024 with cash on hand of $632.3 million. AMC was an original meme stock and its share price is prone to volatility.
Over the last 12 months, AMC stock has declined 27%.
Is AMC Stock a Buy?
The stock of AMC Entertainment has a consensus Hold rating among five Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on five Hold recommendations issued in the last three months. The average AMC price target of $4.75 implies 14.68% upside from current levels. These ratings are likely to change after the company’s latest financial results.
