AMC Entertainment soared as much as 10% on Tuesday after the movie-chain operator turned in a second-quarter loss that was narrower than anticipated. It also reported better-than-expected revenue that marked a sizable jump from last year.
The company, a favorite among retail investors driving momentum behind so-called meme stocks, said its adjusted second-quarter loss was $0.71 a share, smaller than the loss of $0.94 a share from a FactSet poll of analysts. A year ago, the adjusted loss was $5.44 a share.
Revenue surged to $444.7 million from $18.9 million a year earlier and surpassed expectations of $382 million.
AMC shares are now up nearly 1,600% in 2021 alone.
"The second quarter of 2021 was transformational for AMC," said CEO Adam Aron in a statement highlighting the company's raising of $1.25 billion in new equity capital during the period. The move increased its liquidity to more than $2 billion, which he said is about double the highest amount the company has ever logged and will help it keep operating in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"Thanks to increased vaccination counts in the countries we serve, we started to see rising movie-going demand, and we safely welcomed more than 22 million guests back to our theatres across the globe during the course of the second quarter, said Aron.
Aron also cautioned: "AMC's journey through this pandemic is not finished, and we are not yet out of the woods."
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