Macquarie (Macquarie) gave AMC shares a "neutral" rating on Thursday, with a target price of $6, meaning it thought AMC shares were worth less than a movie ticket. At the cinema in AMC, a movie ticket costs about $14.
While Macquarie analysts praised AMC chief executive Adam Allen (Adam Aron) for his support for enthusiastic retail investors and expressed optimism about the box office recovery after the pandemic, they remained concerned about the company's balance sheet.
Macquarie's analysts led by Chad Benon (Chad Beynon) said in a report: "although shares are up 2850% so far this year (as of Wednesday's close) and the S & P 500 is up 12%, AMC's balance sheet is still weighed down by nearly $5.5 billion in debt at the end of the first quarter of 2021, and we expect it to be 12.3 times leveraged by the end of 2022. As the world's largest cinema company,), AMC should benefit from the rebound in demand for theaters, which is urgently needed to address deferred rents (more than $450 million), maintenance of capital expenditure (- $100m) and high annual interest (- $420 million). "
Macquarie expects AMC to lose nearly $2.5 billion from 2021 to 2023 on an adjusted operating profit basis. But the report added that these financial estimates were being "reassessed".