(Reuters) – AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. beat revenue estimates in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, as more people visited their movie theaters following a waiver of COVID-19 restrictions in the United States.
Shares of AMC are one of the so-called “stonks”, stocks that gained huge gains in a brief sell-off on social media, which took Wall Street off its guard. AMC shares rose 5% in extended trading on Wednesday.
The health crisis wreaked havoc on the film industry in 2020, but AMC’s efforts to stay afloat by raising new capital coupled with a glimmer of hope from the release of COVID-19 vaccines mark a resurgence in the hard industry aige.
Over the past few weeks, AMC has opened many of the theaters that had to close for a time due to a resurgence in COVID-19 issues at both the domestic and international markets. .
AMC said it opened all 13 of its theaters in New York City and five venues in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties last week. The company said it operated about 527 of its 589 domestic cinemas, as of Friday.
The cinema’s chain move to implement COVID-19 protocols by regularly reducing seats and disinfection prompted more than eight million U.S. and international customers to return to its theaters in the fourth quarter, AMC said.
Revenue fell 88.8% to $ 162.5 million in the quarter to the end of Dec. 31. However, it surpassed estimates of $ 142.4 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
AMC’s net loss expanded to $ 945.8 million, or $ 6.21 per share, in the quarter, from $ 13.5 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier. AMC retained a $ 466.1 million non-cash discount cost in their quarter.
On a changed basis, Kansas-based company Leawood lost $ 3.15 per share. Analysts expected a loss of $ 3.16 per share.
Reporting by Eva Mathews and Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta and Amy Caren Daniel