A day out at the movies might have sounded like a good play over the holiday weekend, and despite the recent Hollywood strikes, there was still plenty to see. However, AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) found itself down somewhat in Monday afternoon’s trading, as the box office didn’t quite pay off the way some had hoped.
There were bright spots for sure. In fact, one of the brightest of all came from every eighties kid’s secret nightmare, “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” Thanks to the latest run of receipts, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” turned out to be the biggest hit that producer Blumhouse has ever had. And when you consider that Blumhouse was behind such top-notch horrors as “M3gan,” “The Purge,” and the “Insidious” series, that’s saying a lot. So far, it’s pulled in a grand total of $283 million, which beat its previous record, 2016’s “Split,” by a shade over $4.5 million. But there was also some trouble on hand, as Disney (NYSE:DIS) released its latest film, “Wish,” which proved to be a wish no one made, pulling in just $31.7 million over Thanksgiving weekend.
Hope Ahead from…Beyonce?
So, things might look a little bleak right now for AMC. It’s running out of big-ticket items and heavy hitters as the lag from the last film completed and the end of the actors’ strike kicks in. There is some hope, however, in a “Beyonce boost,” thanks to the release of the Beyonce “Renaissance” world tour film. While it may not be quite the boost that the Swifties gave it, “Renaissance” is still likely to pull in some views and some ticket sales. However, this is likely to prove a short-term catalyst only, with analysts pointing to its massive debt and cash flow issues as the theater continues to struggle in the face of home theater systems.
Is AMC Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on AMC stock based on four Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 89.46% loss in its share price over the past year, the average AMC price target of $9.75 per share implies 43.38% upside potential.
