AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE:AMC) has turned in first-quarter results that topped analysts' expectations as films such as "Black Panther" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" gave a nice boost to admissions revenue at the operator of movie theaters.
AMC Entertainment saw its net income in the quarter more than double, to US$17.7mln, or US$0.14 a share, from US$8.4mln, or US$0.07 a share, in the first quarter of 2017. Yahoo Finance put the average earnings estimate of 10 analysts at US$0.09 a share.
Total revenue at AMC Entertainment rose 8%, to US$1.38bn from US$1.28bn, as admissions revenue increased 7%, to US$875mln from US$817.5mln. Yahoo Finance put the average revenue estimate of 11 analysts at US$1.35bn.
The latest results gave shares of AMC Entertainment a boost. The stock rose 5.5% on Monday and was up another 1.75% in premarket trading Tuesday, at US$17.50 a share.
"We are truly heartened by AMC's start to 2018 and couldn’t be more excited about the prospects for the year after the record-breaking success of 'Avengers: Infinity War' early in the second quarter," said Adam Aron, AMC Entertainment CEO and president.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said AMC Entertainment "is slowly restoring investor confidence."
"We think that another few quarters of solid performance should result in multiple expansion, as long as AMC remains committed to meaningfully paying down debt," Pachter said.
In the meantime, Pachter said, "we think it prudent to value AMC at 7.6x our 2019 adjusted EBITDA estimate, implying a $25 price target. Given the upside to our target, we reiterate our Outperform rating."