Shares of AMC Entertainment Inc. AMC surged 13.6% toward a 12-week high in afternoon trading Monday, a day before the movie theater operator is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results. Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese believes movie theater attendance is on the path to normalization, given an improving movie release slate in 2023. Reese expects industry box office this year to be 17% above 2022, but still down 24% versus 2019 levels. The company is scheduled to report results after Tuesday’s closing bell. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect, on average, per-share losses to widen to 21 cents from 16 cents last year and revenue to fall to $1.03 billion from $1.18 billion. AMC’s report comes fellow movie theater operator Cinemark Holdings Inc. CNK reported a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss but revenue that beat expectations. Meanwhile, Reese reiterated the underweight rating that’s been on the stock since September 2021, and the $2 stock price target, which implies TK% downside from current levels. The stock has lost 6.2% over the past three months while Cinemark shares have edged up 0.4% and the S&P 500 SPX has eased 0.8%.
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