What happened
AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC 9.31%) started off in a hole on Monday morning, dropping 2.4% out of the gate, but then, as they like to do, traders sent shares soaring, up 10% to a high of $12.66 per share.
However, as of 11:44 a.m. ET, the stock was only up $0.03 per share, or just 0.28%. There was no company-specific news to account for the fall, then rise, then fall again of the theater operator, but it is generally doing better than the market overall as the S&P 500 is down 0.33%.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Despite a better-than-expected performance in the first quarter, AMC's stock has not benefited from the improved results. Undoubtedly that is because "improved" still means less revenue than pre-pandemic times and the company is still generating significant losses.
Heading into the summer box office season and with a slate of big-ticket movies scheduled to be released throughout the second half of the year, AMC believes it can achieve parity with 2019 revenue and generate positive operating cash flows by the end of the year.
Now what
Some analysts think meme stocks like AMC could actually rally again, igniting something of a short squeeze as sellers scurry to cover their positions. So far, though, most rallies in the movie theater operator's stock have only resulted in further declines in its shares.
AMC's shares had more than doubled following the movie theater stock taking a 22% ownership stake in gold and silver miner Hycroft Mining in mid-March, but the stock now trades lower than it did at the time.
