MW AMC's stock is climbing, lifted by Wedbush's upgrade amid an improving box office

By James Rogers

AMC's stock is heading toward a fourth straight gain, and the biggest gain in six weeks, after Wedbush turned bullish

Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. were rallying in early Friday trading, after Wedbush turned bullish on the movie-theater chain and original meme stock.

Analyst Alicia Reese raised her rating to outperform, after being at neutral since August 2023. She had an underperform rating on the stock before that.

The stock $(AMC.AU)$ rose 7.2% in premarket trading, putting it on pace for the biggest daily percentage gain since a 23.8% rise on May 27. That climb was boosted by a strong box-office performance over the Memorial Day weekend.

Reese said AMC is poised to benefit from a more consistent movie release schedule over the next several quarters and is also positioned to gain market share in 2025 and 2026 with the most premium screens in North America and expansion plans in the U.K. and the E.U. Additionally, AMC has repaid or postponed all debt that was due in 2026, "relieving near-term uncertainty," according to Reese.

AMC is also completing what Wedbush expects to be the company's last major share equity issuance for the foreseeable future, "putting a significant headwind behind it," the analyst wrote in a Friday research note. "With box office expected to be more consistent in the coming quarters, we expect AMC's [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] to cover interest expense, relieving its need to issue more shares," Reese added. (Ebitda is a widely used measure of underlying profitability.)

In addition to the upgrade, Reese raised the stock price target to $4 from $3, with the new target implying 33% upside from Thursday's closing price.

Last week, AMC announced its latest debt-restructuring deal. The deal with key creditor groups provides AMC with approximately $223.3 million of new financing that will be used to refinance debt due to mature in 2026.

Wedbush expects AMC to benefit from a stabilized box-office environment over the next several quarters and recovering free cash flow. However, Reese describes movie theaters as a low-growth industry in a period of recovery.

"To be clear, we do not see substantial growth in 2025, 2026, or beyond," she wrote, in the note. "Over the next few years, we anticipate mid-to-high single-digit [percentage] growth rates in box office revenue, followed by low-to-mid single-digit growth rates thereafter."

Nonetheless, AMC and its peers can continue to expand their merchandise sales and improve concession attach rates and basket size, according to the analyst.

AMC had to contend with a weak box-office environment in the first three months of this year, in what is historically the company's quietest quarter. However, when AMC reported first-quarter results in May, its CEO Adam Aron said that movie demand has been booming since April 1.

The year's latest major release, Director James Gunn's "Superman," hits theaters Friday.

Speaking during the first-quarter results conference call, Aron said that he expects a box-office boost from blockbusters throughout the year, such as the eagerly anticipated "Avatar: Fire and Ash," which opens in mid-December.

AMC shares have fallen 24.6% in 2025 through Thursday, compared with the S&P 500 index's SPX gain of 6.8%.

-James Rogers

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July 11, 2025 08:36 ET (12:36 GMT)

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