Cinemark Holdings Inc.’s stock rose 3% early Friday, after the cinema operator’s better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue overshadowed a wider-than-expected loss.
Plano, Texas-based Cinemark
CNK,
had a net loss of $18 million, or 15 cents a share, for the quarter, after a loss of $99.3 million, or 82 cents a share, pin the year-earlier period. 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.
Chief Executive Sean Gamble said the company expects to benefit from the continued recovery in the industry after the slump it suffered during the pandemic.
The 2023 box office was buoyed by the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, where cinemagoers attempted to see the two big summer blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” on the same day after their release in the summer.
Read now: ‘Barbie’ was the rare original-film summer blockbuster. It will not reverse the franchise flood.
That led “Barbie” to gross more than $1 billion by August, making director Greta Gerwig the first female director to helm a movie that reached that milestone.
Cinemark said it had more than 40 million moviegoers at its theaters in the quarter and 210 million for all of 2023.
See also: AMC shares hit longest winning streak since December
The company also saw record high food & beverage per capita of $4.68 for the year and concession revenue that exceeded 2019’s by 3% on 25% less attendance.
Admissions revenue rose 5.8% to $322.4 million in the quarter, while concession revenue rose 7.7% to $243.0 million.
The stock has gained 40% over the last 12 months, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 23%.
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