Shares of AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) are up on the news that the company has raised enough money to take bankruptcy talks off the table for the time being. AMC's reversal of fortune appears to have given the company enough momentum to survive the winter and possibly even survive the recent delays by studios.
AMC is out of trouble, for the time being, a stunning reversal of fortune for a company that, during the summer of 2020, was facing the prospect of running out of cash if it couldn't screen movies to audiences soon and later having to consider measures up to and including Chapter 11 bankruptcy to stay alive.
AMC's reversal of fortune is tied entirely to the company's fundraising campaign, according to its SEC filings. AMC was able to secure just short of 1$ billion in funding, raised through a few different measures, including issuing new shares and taking on more debt. AMC still isn't entirely out of rough waters by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, according to publicly filed documents, the company has enough financial strength to survive at least some or all of 2021.
"We've already assumed that moviegoing would be quite light in the first half of 2021, but it's also our assumption that moviegoing will pick up in the second half of 2021. There are a lot of movies that are going to be released this summer, this fall and next winter." CEO Adam Aron said in an interview with CNN. Aron would also add that ongoing vaccination efforts should help traffic return somewhat in the latter half of the year and believed that the second half of the year would be much stronger for AMC.
Monday's announcement was just the news that investors needed, driving shares up considerably after weeks of stagnation. AMC shares were up 25% on Monday from Friday's close, reaching $4.4 from Friday's $3.51. AMC had another good day on Tuesday, ending 12.7% up from Monday's closing price at $4.96.