Shares of Cinemark Holdings Inc. rose. rose 3% early Friday, after the cinema operator's better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenues overshadowed a larger-than-expected loss.
Plano, Texas-based Cinemark CNK,
The company had a net loss of $18 million, or 15 cents per share, during the quarter, after a loss of $99.3 million, or 82 cents per share, in the corresponding period a year earlier. Revenue rose 6.5% to $638.9 million.
The FactSet consensus was for a loss of 7 cents and revenue of $620.0 million.
Cinemark ended the quarter with 5,719 screens across the U.S. and commitments to open five new theaters and add 43 screens over the next two years.
CEO Sean Gamble said the company expects to benefit from the industry's continued recovery after the slump it suffered during the pandemic.
The box office rebounded in 2023 with the “Parpenheimer” phenomenon, as moviegoers attempted to watch the two big summer blockbusters, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” on the same day after their summer releases.
Read now: “Barbie” was the rare original movie that was a summer hit. It will not reverse the flood of franchises.
This led to “Barbie” grossing more than $1 billion by August, making director Greta Gerwig the first female director to helm a film to reach that milestone.
Cinemark said it had more than 40 million moviegoers in theaters this quarter and 210 million throughout 2023.
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The company also saw a record high of $4.68 in food and beverage per capita for the year and concession revenues that exceeded 2019 by 3% with 25% lower attendance.
Admission revenue rose 5.8% to $322.4 million in the quarter, while concession revenue rose 7.7% to $243.0 million.
The stock is up 40% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 SPX,
It gained 23%.
