COVID-19 Direct Hit: US Theater Chain AMC Beats Wall Street Expectations in Q4 Earnings

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] AMC, a major U.S. movie theater chain hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, reported fourth-quarter sales last year that exceeded Wall Street expectations.

On the 10th (local time), AMC announced that its fourth-quarter sales last year amounted to $162.5 million (approximately 184.4 billion KRW), down 88.8% from the same period the previous year. However, major foreign media reported that this figure surpassed market expectations.

AMC's sales declined in the fourth quarter last year, which included the Christmas season, due to the COVID-19 situation.

Nevertheless, AMC's performance exceeded Wall Street forecasts.

Fourth-quarter sales exceeded market expectations (approximately $142.4 million), and the net loss per share was $3.15, smaller than the market forecast (net loss per share of $3.53), Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg stated, "AMC's earnings outlook is improving," adding, "With theaters reopening in major markets including New York, ticket sales are expected to increase."

AMC said, "With the expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations, audiences will increase," and "Sales growth is expected following the release of blockbuster movies such as 'Godzilla vs. Kong,' 'Top Gun: Maverick,' 'Black Widow,' and 'Fast & Furious 9 (F9)' after May."

AMC was one of the stocks heavily purchased by individual investors during the GameStop incident, where U.S. retail investors clashed with short-selling institutional investors, drawing significant attention from U.S. retail investors to AMC's earnings announcement.

During the video conference call held by AMC after the earnings announcement, many retail investors joined, leading to additional access restrictions, and some users were offline for 30 minutes due to capacity overload, Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times (LAT) reported.

Some individual investors also live-streamed the conference call on YouTube, and on social media platforms such as Twitter, emojis ($AMC), fireworks, and rocket images expressing hopes for AMC's stock price rise were posted.

Adam Aron, AMC's CEO, expressed gratitude to individual investors, saying, "I truly take to heart the strong affection Americans have for AMC."

He added, "I am optimistic and confident in AMC's ability to weather the COVID-19 storm," and said, "Our focus is now on recovery, not survival."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.