AMC Entertainment Reports Narrower-Than-Expected Loss; Shares Slip

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- AMC Entertainment reported Thursday narrower-than-expected losses as a slew of Hollywood blockbusters attracted a wave of moviegoers to return to the big screen.  

AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) was down more than 5% following the report.

The company reported a second-quarter loss of $0.20 per share, compared with $0.71 a year earlier. Revenue rose to $1.17 billion from $444.7 million a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a loss of $0.23 per share on revenue of $1.17 billion.

The company said the miss on the bottom line was partly driven by losses in its stake in Hycroft Mining Company. "In the second quarter of 2022 we wrote down much of the large gains [in Hycroft Mining Company] that were booked in the first quarter," it added.

The better-than-expected results are explained by the ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, when lockdowns shuttered movie theatres worldwide.

Attendance jumped to about 59 million in Q2, up 168% from the same period last year, as moviegoers flocked to see the latest blockbusters including Doctor Stephen Strange, Tom “Maverick” Cruise, Elvis Presley, and all those hungry people-eating Jurassic dinosaurs.

Looking ahead, the company said a dearth of new movie titles being released in August and September will lead to slowdown for several weeks, but the movie slate will pick up pace in the fourth quarter.