The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Aug. 13, edition that Scotia Capital analyst Maher Yaghi is keeping his "sector outperform" recommendation for Cineplex intact. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Yaghi gave his share target a $2 boost to $12. Cineplex's latest financial results fell in line with expectations in a quarter "that witnessed low theatre attendance." Mr. Yaghi is expecting "a strong finish for the year." He says in a note: "These delays should diminish in the second half with big ticket movies expected to hit the screens. The slate for 2025 is also impressive. We are expecting a meaningful recovery in financial results heading into the second half which should lead to a sizable uptick in FCF generation. Despite weak performance in 1H, we continue to expect a much stronger movie slate in 2H24, where Q4 should be one of the strongest Q4s on the books. This is driven by the release of several large films including Transformers, Wicked, Moana 2, and Mufasa: The Lion King among many others. With more content returning to screens, management expects that operational performance on EBITDA should start to exceed prepandemic levels."
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