AMC Entertainment (NASDAQ:AMC), the large movie chain, has made some moves recently that will make it popular with its Millennial-aged shareholders. AMC is now going to issue NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to its “AMC Investor Connect” shareholders. These are self-identified shareholders of AMC stock. The NFT says, “I Own AMC” on a coin-like picture.
This is now the second NFT that AMC will have issued. The first was for ticket holders for the upcoming Spider-Man movie, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
This has proven to be a brilliant marketing strategy for AMC. It also clearly sets the world’s largest movie chain up to be popular with its Millennial-aged shareholders and others.
Moreover, this makes AMC probably one of the first major public companies to completely embrace the whole digital asset culture.
For example, last month AMC said it would allow Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD), Bitcoin Cash (CCC:BCH-USD) and Litecoin (CCC:LTC-USD) for purchases of online tickets. In addition, the company is considering allowing Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) for these purchases.
This makes AMC appear to be at the forefront of embracing the kind of digital assets that Millennials are also embracing. It is very shrewd since the company basically has little to lose and much to gain from this kind of progressive stance.
Where This Leaves AMC Entertainment
Recently the company produced stellar results in its Q3 earnings report on Nov. 8. AMC reported that revenue for Q3 hit $763 million, up many times from $119.5 million last year. In addition, compared to the $444.7 million in Q2, revenue was up 71.6% on a sequential quarterly basis.
The bottom line is that people are now going back to the movies, just as the company originally predicted they would in Q1. As of Sept. 30, all of its US theaters and 99% of its foreign theaters are now open, so Q4 will show even higher results, I believe.
As a result, analysts are now very positive about revenue forecasts for next year. For example, 8 analysts surveyed by Seeking Alpha have an average revenue target of $4.66 billion for 2022. That represents an increase in revenue of 84.9% next year over the expected $2.52 billion in 2021.
Given that AMC stock now has a market cap of $13.9 billion, this puts it on a price-to-sales multiple of just under 3 times for 2022. That is not that expensive for a company that almost hit bankruptcy last year.
For example, at 5 times forward sales, its target market cap would be $23.3 billion. That would value AMC stock at 67.6% higher than current levels, putting the price target at $45.32 per share.
Even if it took 2 years for that to occur, the annualized compound ROI would be 29.46% for each of the 2 years. That is a very good return for most investors. It also means that AMC stock is a worthwhile investment at this point, given its long-term prospects.
What To Do With AMC Stock
However, many investors want to see the company return to profitability before they invest in AMC stock. I can understand that. After all, you never know if another Covid-19 variant is going to completely shut down all entertainment sites like before. And for all intents and purposes, AMC is still in a turnaround situation – it needs to complete the turnaround.
Moreover, many analysts on Wall Street still are not convinced. For example, TipRanks reports that there are 4 analysts offering a 12-month price target in the last 3 months. Their average price target is just $8.17 per share or 70% below today’s price of $27.04 per share.
The same is true with Seeking Alpha’s survey of 8 sell-side analysts. Their average price target is $10.45 per share, although the highest valuation is $35.10.
Nevertheless, our price target of $45.32 seems more likely to occur, especially now that AMC Entertainment is so popular with Millennials.
On the date of publication, Mark Hake did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Mark Hake writes about personal finance on mrhake.medium.com and Newsbreak.com and runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here.
