Hi_老虎社区_美港股上老虎

免责声明：上述内容仅代表发帖人个人观点，不构成本平台的任何投资建议。

精彩评论

我们需要你的真知灼见来填补这片空白

发表看法

{"i18n":{"language":"zh_CN"},"detailType":1,"isChannel":false,"data":{"magic":2,"id":111154642,"tweetId":"111154642","gmtCreate":1622670106386,"gmtModify":1634099438313,"author":{"id":3582284559928921,"idStr":"3582284559928921","authorId":3582284559928921,"authorIdStr":"3582284559928921","name":"MisspYin","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/82f55c32f587e18025371d70a4102d36","vip":1,"userType":1,"introduction":"","boolIsFan":false,"boolIsHead":false,"crmLevel":11,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"individualDisplayBadges":[],"fanSize":2,"starInvestorFlag":false},"themes":[],"images":[],"coverImages":[],"extraTitle":"","html":"<html><head></head><body>Hi</body></html>","htmlText":"<html><head></head><body>Hi</body></html>","text":"Hi","highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":6,"commentSize":6,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"link":"https://laohu8.com/post/111154642","repostId":1188552613,"repostType":4,"repost":{"id":"1188552613","kind":"news","pubTimestamp":1622627641,"share":"https://www.laohu8.com/m/news/1188552613?lang=zh_CN&edition=full","pubTime":"2021-06-02 17:54","market":"us","language":"en","title":"AMC Stock Is Surging Again. How to Make Sense of the Move.<blockquote>AMC股价再次飙升。如何理解这一举动。</blockquote>","url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=1188552613","media":"Barrons","summary":"AMC Entertainment‘s skyrocketing stock price would be easy to dismiss as just meme-trade madness, th","content":"AMC Entertainment‘s skyrocketing stock price would be easy to dismiss as just meme-trade madness, that social media-fueled investor frenzy that has launched the likes of&nbsp;GameStop&nbsp;and&nbsp;BlackBerry&nbsp;into speculative territory.<blockquote>AMC院线股价飙升很容易被视为迷因交易疯狂，社交媒体推动的投资者狂热将游戏驿站和黑莓等公司带入了投机领域。</blockquote> But it’s possible that traditional investors have missed a fundamental change in the movie theater business—and it wouldn’t be the first time.<blockquote>但传统投资者可能错过了电影院业务的根本性变化——而且这已经不是第一次了。</blockquote> Shares of AMC (ticker: AMC) surged 23% on Tuesday, closing at $32.04—just off an all-time high of $36.72 set in late May. That puts the movie-theater chain’s market capitalization at roughly $16 billion, more than 15 times what it was in 2018, a record-breaking year at the box office.&nbsp;Shares were up another 34%, to $42.92, in premarket trading Wednesday.<blockquote>AMC（股票代码：AMC）股价周二飙升23%，收于32.04美元，略低于5月底创下的36.72美元的历史高点。这使得这家连锁影院的市值约为160亿美元，是2018年票房破纪录的一年的15倍多。周三盘前交易中，该公司股价又上涨34%，至42.92美元。</blockquote> Even if investors missed an inflection point, though, the math doesn’t add up. The reason might be that market cap isn’t the right measure. Maybe it’s enterprise value, which is essentially market cap and debt. AMC’s enterprise value is about $26 billion, compared with $6.2 billion or so at the end of 2018.<blockquote>不过，即使投资者错过了拐点，数学也不成立。原因可能是市值不是正确的衡量标准。也许是企业价值，本质上是市值和债务。AMC的企业价值约为260亿美元，而2018年底为62亿美元左右。</blockquote> AMC added debt during the pandemic as theaters in the country’s biggest cities were dark for months. And the numbers make it easy to understand why: The U.S. box office in 2020 generated about $2.1 billion in ticket sales, down 81% from the 2018 record of $11.9 billion.<blockquote>AMC在疫情期间增加了债务，因为该国最大城市的影院连续几个月处于黑暗之中。这些数字很容易理解原因：2020年美国票房收入约为21亿美元，比2018年创纪录的119亿美元下降了81%。</blockquote> So, it seems investors have been vexed by movie theater economics. But it wouldn’t be the first time. The industry essentially went belly up at the turn of the millennium. Regal Cinemas, for instance, declared bankruptcy in 2001.<blockquote>因此，投资者似乎对电影院经济感到恼火。但这不是第一次了。这个行业在世纪之交基本上破产了。例如，富豪影院于2001年宣布破产。</blockquote> Back then, the industry had plenty of capacity because of a new theater design—stadium seating that gave a better view of the screen. That shift meant movie theater chains had to renovate or risk losing all their patrons to movie theaters that offered the better view. In the end, too many seats and not enough patrons meant the return on the stadium-seating investments never materialized.<blockquote>当时，该行业有足够的容量，因为一种新的剧院设计——体育场座位可以更好地观看屏幕。这种转变意味着连锁电影院必须翻新，否则就有可能失去所有顾客到视野更好的电影院。最终，太多的座位和不够的顾客意味着体育场座位投资的回报从未实现。</blockquote> The upshot was consolidation. With fewer operators, the number of screens stabilized. Between 2002 and 2007, Regal Cinemas became a cash-generating machine because the stock was mispriced. The stock returned 21% a year on average. The S&amp;P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both returned less than 9% a year on average over the same period.<blockquote>结果是整合。随着操作员的减少，屏幕数量稳定下来。2002年至2007年间，Regal Cinemas因股票定价错误而成为现金产生机器。该股平均每年回报率为21%。同期，标普500和道琼斯工业平均指数的平均年回报率均低于9%。</blockquote> In those days, Regal Cinema’s enterprise value about $5 billion, or about 50% of total U.S. box office sales. That’s far short of AMC today. Something new has to be different for AMC to be worth it.<blockquote>当年，富豪影院的企业价值约为50亿美元，约占美国票房总收入的50%。这与今天的AMC相去甚远。新的东西必须与众不同，AMC才值得。</blockquote> Maybe the movie theater business is going to go through another period of consolidation, which can usher in another golden age of returns. AMC’s Tuesday gains, in fact, were catalyzed by new capital raised so the company could go on the offensive, acquiring defunct chains. Monopolies, after all, can be good for stock returns.<blockquote>也许电影院业务又要经历一段盘整期，可以迎来又一个回报的黄金时代。事实上，AMC周二的上涨是由筹集的新资金推动的，因此该公司可以继续进攻，收购已倒闭的连锁店。毕竟，垄断有利于股票回报。</blockquote> If AMC can increase market share and the U.S. box office sales can return to 2018 levels in a few years, total sales at might be $9 billion—$6 billion from tickets and $3 billion from concessions. Sales in 2018 amounted to $5.5 billion.<blockquote>如果AMC能够增加市场份额，并且美国票房销售额能够在几年内恢复到2018年的水平，那么总销售额可能会达到90亿美元——60亿美元来自门票，30亿美元来自特许经营。2018年销售额达55亿美元。</blockquote> Then, with better gross profit margins derived from larger scale, AMC might be able to generate $600 million in free cash flow annually, which puts the stock at about a 4% free cash flow yield. The S&amp;P 500 trades for about a 3% free cash flow yield. The numbers can work—if they’re stretched.<blockquote>然后，随着规模的扩大带来更好的毛利率，AMC每年可能能够产生6亿美元的自由现金流，这使得该股的自由现金流收益率约为4%。标普500的自由现金流收益率约为3%。这些数字可以发挥作用——如果它们被拉伸的话。</blockquote> There are problems with this scenario, though. There are lots of ifs and mights—and AMC has never generated cash flow like that in the past. Arriving at $600 million in free cash flow is more about justifying current valuations than predicting what is likely.<blockquote>不过，这种情况存在问题。有很多如果和可能——AMC过去从未产生过这样的现金流。达到6亿美元的自由现金流更多的是为了证明当前估值的合理性，而不是预测可能发生的情况。</blockquote> Also, with mergers and acquisitions, AMC market shares might rise, but there are still competitors. Regal Cinemas is still out there, owned by Cineworld Holdings (CINE. London). So is Cinemark (CNK). There’s not a true monopoly.<blockquote>此外，通过并购，AMC的市场份额可能会上升，但仍然存在竞争对手。富豪影院仍然存在，归电影世界控股公司所有。伦敦）。喜满客（CNK）也是如此。没有真正的垄断。</blockquote> AMC and its peers have to deal with streaming, too. Windows for exclusive theater showings are shrinking. The pandemic has accelerated that. And if AMC gets too large and demanding for movie makers, the talent can always go to streaming faster, hurting box office sales.<blockquote>AMC及其同行也必须应对流媒体问题。独家影院放映的窗口正在缩小。疫情加速了这一点。如果AMC变得太大，对电影制作人的要求太高，人才总是可以更快地转向流媒体，从而损害票房销售。</blockquote> There is also the problem of the peer stocks. They aren’t trading like this is a brave new world for theaters. Cineworld stock is up 484% from its 52-week low, but shares are still off 72% from all-time highs. Cinemark shares are up 222% from their 52-week low. They are down 47% from their all-time high.<blockquote>还有同行股票的问题。他们并不认为这是剧院的一个勇敢的新世界。Cineworld股价较52周低点上涨484%，但仍较历史高点下跌72%。喜满客股价较52周低点上涨222%。它们比历史高点下跌了47%。</blockquote> AMC stock, again, is up almost 1,600% from its 52-week low and is down just 13% from its May all-time high.<blockquote>AMC股价再次较52周低点上涨近1,600%，较5月份历史高点仅下跌13%。</blockquote> Wall Street just doesn’t see the potential either. Nine analysts cover the stock. The average analyst price target is about $5. Before the pandemic, the average analyst price target was $15. But there were fewer shares back then. The old target enterprise value was roughly $7 billion. It’s tough to get from $7 billion to $26 billion predicting better margins.<blockquote>华尔街也没有看到潜力。九名分析师关注该股。分析师平均目标价约为5美元。在疫情爆发之前，分析师的平均目标价为15美元。但当时股票较少。旧的目标企业价值约为70亿美元。很难从70亿美元增加到260亿美元来预测更好的利润率。</blockquote> Analysts do have positive free cash flow modeled, though–$13 million in 2022 and $90 million in 2023. That’s a long way from $600 million.<blockquote>不过，分析师确实模拟了正自由现金流——2022年为1300万美元，2023年为9000万美元。这距离6亿美元还有很长的路要走。</blockquote> And that’s just another way of saying that AMC bulls are a long way from making the math work.<blockquote>这只是AMC多头距离实现数学计算还有很长的路要走的另一种说法。</blockquote>","source":"lsy1601382232898","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>AMC Stock Is Surging Again. How to Make Sense of the Move.<blockquote>AMC股价再次飙升。如何理解这一举动。</blockquote></title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 12.5px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nAMC Stock Is Surging Again. How to Make Sense of the Move.<blockquote>AMC股价再次飙升。如何理解这一举动。</blockquote>\n</h2>\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\nBarrons2021-06-02 17:54\n\n</h4>\n</header>\n<article>\nAMC Entertainment‘s skyrocketing stock price would be easy to dismiss as just meme-trade madness, that social media-fueled investor frenzy that has launched the likes of&nbsp;GameStop&nbsp;and&nbsp;BlackBerry&nbsp;into speculative territory.<blockquote>AMC院线股价飙升很容易被视为迷因交易疯狂，社交媒体推动的投资者狂热将游戏驿站和黑莓等公司带入了投机领域。</blockquote> But it’s possible that traditional investors have missed a fundamental change in the movie theater business—and it wouldn’t be the first time.<blockquote>但传统投资者可能错过了电影院业务的根本性变化——而且这已经不是第一次了。</blockquote> Shares of AMC (ticker: AMC) surged 23% on Tuesday, closing at $32.04—just off an all-time high of $36.72 set in late May. That puts the movie-theater chain’s market capitalization at roughly $16 billion, more than 15 times what it was in 2018, a record-breaking year at the box office.&nbsp;Shares were up another 34%, to $42.92, in premarket trading Wednesday.<blockquote>AMC（股票代码：AMC）股价周二飙升23%，收于32.04美元，略低于5月底创下的36.72美元的历史高点。这使得这家连锁影院的市值约为160亿美元，是2018年票房破纪录的一年的15倍多。周三盘前交易中，该公司股价又上涨34%，至42.92美元。</blockquote> Even if investors missed an inflection point, though, the math doesn’t add up. The reason might be that market cap isn’t the right measure. Maybe it’s enterprise value, which is essentially market cap and debt. AMC’s enterprise value is about $26 billion, compared with $6.2 billion or so at the end of 2018.<blockquote>不过，即使投资者错过了拐点，数学也不成立。原因可能是市值不是正确的衡量标准。也许是企业价值，本质上是市值和债务。AMC的企业价值约为260亿美元，而2018年底为62亿美元左右。</blockquote> AMC added debt during the pandemic as theaters in the country’s biggest cities were dark for months. And the numbers make it easy to understand why: The U.S. box office in 2020 generated about $2.1 billion in ticket sales, down 81% from the 2018 record of $11.9 billion.<blockquote>AMC在疫情期间增加了债务，因为该国最大城市的影院连续几个月处于黑暗之中。这些数字很容易理解原因：2020年美国票房收入约为21亿美元，比2018年创纪录的119亿美元下降了81%。</blockquote> So, it seems investors have been vexed by movie theater economics. But it wouldn’t be the first time. The industry essentially went belly up at the turn of the millennium. Regal Cinemas, for instance, declared bankruptcy in 2001.<blockquote>因此，投资者似乎对电影院经济感到恼火。但这不是第一次了。这个行业在世纪之交基本上破产了。例如，富豪影院于2001年宣布破产。</blockquote> Back then, the industry had plenty of capacity because of a new theater design—stadium seating that gave a better view of the screen. That shift meant movie theater chains had to renovate or risk losing all their patrons to movie theaters that offered the better view. In the end, too many seats and not enough patrons meant the return on the stadium-seating investments never materialized.<blockquote>当时，该行业有足够的容量，因为一种新的剧院设计——体育场座位可以更好地观看屏幕。这种转变意味着连锁电影院必须翻新，否则就有可能失去所有顾客到视野更好的电影院。最终，太多的座位和不够的顾客意味着体育场座位投资的回报从未实现。</blockquote> The upshot was consolidation. With fewer operators, the number of screens stabilized. Between 2002 and 2007, Regal Cinemas became a cash-generating machine because the stock was mispriced. The stock returned 21% a year on average. The S&amp;P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both returned less than 9% a year on average over the same period.<blockquote>结果是整合。随着操作员的减少，屏幕数量稳定下来。2002年至2007年间，Regal Cinemas因股票定价错误而成为现金产生机器。该股平均每年回报率为21%。同期，标普500和道琼斯工业平均指数的平均年回报率均低于9%。</blockquote> In those days, Regal Cinema’s enterprise value about $5 billion, or about 50% of total U.S. box office sales. That’s far short of AMC today. Something new has to be different for AMC to be worth it.<blockquote>当年，富豪影院的企业价值约为50亿美元，约占美国票房总收入的50%。这与今天的AMC相去甚远。新的东西必须与众不同，AMC才值得。</blockquote> Maybe the movie theater business is going to go through another period of consolidation, which can usher in another golden age of returns. AMC’s Tuesday gains, in fact, were catalyzed by new capital raised so the company could go on the offensive, acquiring defunct chains. Monopolies, after all, can be good for stock returns.<blockquote>也许电影院业务又要经历一段盘整期，可以迎来又一个回报的黄金时代。事实上，AMC周二的上涨是由筹集的新资金推动的，因此该公司可以继续进攻，收购已倒闭的连锁店。毕竟，垄断有利于股票回报。</blockquote> If AMC can increase market share and the U.S. box office sales can return to 2018 levels in a few years, total sales at might be $9 billion—$6 billion from tickets and $3 billion from concessions. Sales in 2018 amounted to $5.5 billion.<blockquote>如果AMC能够增加市场份额，并且美国票房销售额能够在几年内恢复到2018年的水平，那么总销售额可能会达到90亿美元——60亿美元来自门票，30亿美元来自特许经营。2018年销售额达55亿美元。</blockquote> Then, with better gross profit margins derived from larger scale, AMC might be able to generate $600 million in free cash flow annually, which puts the stock at about a 4% free cash flow yield. The S&amp;P 500 trades for about a 3% free cash flow yield. The numbers can work—if they’re stretched.<blockquote>然后，随着规模的扩大带来更好的毛利率，AMC每年可能能够产生6亿美元的自由现金流，这使得该股的自由现金流收益率约为4%。标普500的自由现金流收益率约为3%。这些数字可以发挥作用——如果它们被拉伸的话。</blockquote> There are problems with this scenario, though. There are lots of ifs and mights—and AMC has never generated cash flow like that in the past. Arriving at $600 million in free cash flow is more about justifying current valuations than predicting what is likely.<blockquote>不过，这种情况存在问题。有很多如果和可能——AMC过去从未产生过这样的现金流。达到6亿美元的自由现金流更多的是为了证明当前估值的合理性，而不是预测可能发生的情况。</blockquote> Also, with mergers and acquisitions, AMC market shares might rise, but there are still competitors. Regal Cinemas is still out there, owned by Cineworld Holdings (CINE. London). So is Cinemark (CNK). There’s not a true monopoly.<blockquote>此外，通过并购，AMC的市场份额可能会上升，但仍然存在竞争对手。富豪影院仍然存在，归电影世界控股公司所有。伦敦）。喜满客（CNK）也是如此。没有真正的垄断。</blockquote> AMC and its peers have to deal with streaming, too. Windows for exclusive theater showings are shrinking. The pandemic has accelerated that. And if AMC gets too large and demanding for movie makers, the talent can always go to streaming faster, hurting box office sales.<blockquote>AMC及其同行也必须应对流媒体问题。独家影院放映的窗口正在缩小。疫情加速了这一点。如果AMC变得太大，对电影制作人的要求太高，人才总是可以更快地转向流媒体，从而损害票房销售。</blockquote> There is also the problem of the peer stocks. They aren’t trading like this is a brave new world for theaters. Cineworld stock is up 484% from its 52-week low, but shares are still off 72% from all-time highs. Cinemark shares are up 222% from their 52-week low. They are down 47% from their all-time high.<blockquote>还有同行股票的问题。他们并不认为这是剧院的一个勇敢的新世界。Cineworld股价较52周低点上涨484%，但仍较历史高点下跌72%。喜满客股价较52周低点上涨222%。它们比历史高点下跌了47%。</blockquote> AMC stock, again, is up almost 1,600% from its 52-week low and is down just 13% from its May all-time high.<blockquote>AMC股价再次较52周低点上涨近1,600%，较5月份历史高点仅下跌13%。</blockquote> Wall Street just doesn’t see the potential either. Nine analysts cover the stock. The average analyst price target is about $5. Before the pandemic, the average analyst price target was $15. But there were fewer shares back then. The old target enterprise value was roughly $7 billion. It’s tough to get from $7 billion to $26 billion predicting better margins.<blockquote>华尔街也没有看到潜力。九名分析师关注该股。分析师平均目标价约为5美元。在疫情爆发之前，分析师的平均目标价为15美元。但当时股票较少。旧的目标企业价值约为70亿美元。很难从70亿美元增加到260亿美元来预测更好的利润率。</blockquote> Analysts do have positive free cash flow modeled, though–$13 million in 2022 and $90 million in 2023. That’s a long way from $600 million.<blockquote>不过，分析师确实模拟了正自由现金流——2022年为1300万美元，2023年为9000万美元。这距离6亿美元还有很长的路要走。</blockquote> And that’s just another way of saying that AMC bulls are a long way from making the math work.<blockquote>这只是AMC多头距离实现数学计算还有很长的路要走的另一种说法。</blockquote>\n<div class=\"bt-text\">\n\n\n 来源：<a href=\"https://www.barrons.com/articles/amc-rockets-higher-is-it-worth-it-maybe-51622594691?mod=hp_LEAD_1\">Barrons</a>\n为提升您的阅读体验，我们对本页面进行了排版优化\n\n\n</div>\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"","relate_stocks":{"AMC":"AMC院线"},"source_url":"https://www.barrons.com/articles/amc-rockets-higher-is-it-worth-it-maybe-51622594691?mod=hp_LEAD_1","is_english":true,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"1188552613","content_text":"AMC Entertainment‘s skyrocketing stock price would be easy to dismiss as just meme-trade madness, that social media-fueled investor frenzy that has launched the likes of GameStop and BlackBerry into speculative territory.\nBut it’s possible that traditional investors have missed a fundamental change in the movie theater business—and it wouldn’t be the first time.\nShares of AMC (ticker: AMC) surged 23% on Tuesday, closing at $32.04—just off an all-time high of $36.72 set in late May. That puts the movie-theater chain’s market capitalization at roughly $16 billion, more than 15 times what it was in 2018, a record-breaking year at the box office. Shares were up another 34%, to $42.92, in premarket trading Wednesday.\nEven if investors missed an inflection point, though, the math doesn’t add up. The reason might be that market cap isn’t the right measure. Maybe it’s enterprise value, which is essentially market cap and debt. AMC’s enterprise value is about $26 billion, compared with $6.2 billion or so at the end of 2018.\nAMC added debt during the pandemic as theaters in the country’s biggest cities were dark for months. And the numbers make it easy to understand why: The U.S. box office in 2020 generated about $2.1 billion in ticket sales, down 81% from the 2018 record of $11.9 billion.\nSo, it seems investors have been vexed by movie theater economics. But it wouldn’t be the first time. The industry essentially went belly up at the turn of the millennium. Regal Cinemas, for instance, declared bankruptcy in 2001.\nBack then, the industry had plenty of capacity because of a new theater design—stadium seating that gave a better view of the screen. That shift meant movie theater chains had to renovate or risk losing all their patrons to movie theaters that offered the better view. In the end, too many seats and not enough patrons meant the return on the stadium-seating investments never materialized.\nThe upshot was consolidation. With fewer operators, the number of screens stabilized. Between 2002 and 2007, Regal Cinemas became a cash-generating machine because the stock was mispriced. The stock returned 21% a year on average. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both returned less than 9% a year on average over the same period.\nIn those days, Regal Cinema’s enterprise value about $5 billion, or about 50% of total U.S. box office sales. That’s far short of AMC today. Something new has to be different for AMC to be worth it.\nMaybe the movie theater business is going to go through another period of consolidation, which can usher in another golden age of returns. AMC’s Tuesday gains, in fact, were catalyzed by new capital raised so the company could go on the offensive, acquiring defunct chains. Monopolies, after all, can be good for stock returns.\nIf AMC can increase market share and the U.S. box office sales can return to 2018 levels in a few years, total sales at might be $9 billion—$6 billion from tickets and $3 billion from concessions. Sales in 2018 amounted to $5.5 billion.\nThen, with better gross profit margins derived from larger scale, AMC might be able to generate $600 million in free cash flow annually, which puts the stock at about a 4% free cash flow yield. The S&P 500 trades for about a 3% free cash flow yield. The numbers can work—if they’re stretched.\nThere are problems with this scenario, though. There are lots of ifs and mights—and AMC has never generated cash flow like that in the past. Arriving at $600 million in free cash flow is more about justifying current valuations than predicting what is likely.\nAlso, with mergers and acquisitions, AMC market shares might rise, but there are still competitors. Regal Cinemas is still out there, owned by Cineworld Holdings (CINE. London). So is Cinemark (CNK). There’s not a true monopoly.\nAMC and its peers have to deal with streaming, too. Windows for exclusive theater showings are shrinking. The pandemic has accelerated that. And if AMC gets too large and demanding for movie makers, the talent can always go to streaming faster, hurting box office sales.\nThere is also the problem of the peer stocks. They aren’t trading like this is a brave new world for theaters. Cineworld stock is up 484% from its 52-week low, but shares are still off 72% from all-time highs. Cinemark shares are up 222% from their 52-week low. They are down 47% from their all-time high.\nAMC stock, again, is up almost 1,600% from its 52-week low and is down just 13% from its May all-time high.\nWall Street just doesn’t see the potential either. Nine analysts cover the stock. The average analyst price target is about $5. Before the pandemic, the average analyst price target was $15. But there were fewer shares back then. The old target enterprise value was roughly $7 billion. It’s tough to get from $7 billion to $26 billion predicting better margins.\nAnalysts do have positive free cash flow modeled, though–$13 million in 2022 and $90 million in 2023. That’s a long way from $600 million.\nAnd that’s just another way of saying that AMC bulls are a long way from making the math work.","news_type":1,"symbols_score_info":{"AMC":0.9}},"isVote":1,"tweetType":1,"viewCount":496,"commentLimit":10,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"symbols":[],"verified":2,"subType":0,"readableState":1,"langContent":"EN","currentLanguage":"EN","warmUpFlag":false,"orderFlag":false,"shareable":true,"causeOfNotShareable":"","featuresForAnalytics":[],"commentAndTweetFlag":false,"andRepostAutoSelectedFlag":false,"upFlag":false,"length":2,"xxTargetLangEnum":"ORIG"},"commentList":[],"isCommentEnd":true,"isTiger":false,"isWeiXinMini":false,"url":"/m/post/111154642"}