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AMC Entertainment downgraded to Neutral at B. Riley Securities; tgt $16
Briefing.com - 3:35 PM ET, 05/26/2021

B. Riley Securities downgrades AMC to Neutral from Buy and sets target price at $16. Analyst Eric Wold added, "We are downgrading AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) from Buy to Neutral on valuation only as shares have now eclipsed our recently-increased $16 PT. Note that our original decision to upgrade AMC from Neutral to Buy last month on 4/5 along with applying a target multiple above historical averages was driven by an expectation the stock could trade sharply higher on the combination of (1) continued global box office reopening and recovery momentum; (2) additional studio windowing agreements demonstrating theatrical exclusivity importance; and (3) successful balance sheet deleveraging moves made by management. With all three of those expectations playing out since our upgrade in our view, we acknowledge the ~75% upward move for AMC shares since then (vs. a gain of ~4% for the S&P 500) now largely reflects each of those benefits to AMC's outlook and expected recovery, while the recent completion of the latest ATM equity program eliminates the need for additional capital before industry trends recover. Given that we only recently increased our PT from $13 to $16 on 5/14, we are moving to the sidelines with an inability to justify taking that PT any higher at this point."