Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. sank 5.4% in afternoon trading Tuesday, putting them on track for a sixth straight loss, ahead of the movie theater operator’s first-quarter earnings report due out later this week. The company also announced Tuesday that it has rescheduled its annual shareholder meeting, which was supposed to be held on Tuesday, for July 29, to give its shareholders more time “to have their voices heard” and more time to vote. The stock has now tumbled 19.8% since the company disclosed after the April 27 closing bell plans to sell 43 million new shares to the public, and provided preliminary financial results. AMC is slated to release its first-quarter report after Thursday’s close, with the FactSet consensus for a per-share loss of $1.40 on revenue of $157.6 million. MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler said given AMC’s preannouncement last week there should not be many surprises in the report. He reiterated the sell rating he’s had on the stock since Feb. 1, when the stock was caught up in the frenzy surrounding heavily shorted so-called “meme” stocks. “The business environment for theatres is improving, and we believe there is a good amount of pent-up demand among consumers to return to theatres,” Handler wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. “However, given the company’s capital structure, we believe AMC would need to exceed its all-time high of adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization] by 20%…in order to justify its current share price.” Although the stock was headed for the longest losing streak since 11-day stretch ended Jan. 5, the stock was still up 333.3% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 10.3%.
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