Good things are expected from Regal Entertainment Group when the Knoxville-based movie
theater operator releases its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday.
Analysts are predicting earnings of 20 cents per share, double the 10 cents per share the company reported in the prior-year quarter.
Revenue is expected to be up 14.9 percent from a year ago, reversing results from the previous two quarters when revenues were down from from the year before.
Open Road Films, the movie distributor co-owned by Knoxville-based Regal Entertainment Group has had modest success since its launch last year, but it could end this year with a surge.
Four Open Road movies are scheduled to hit theater screens in the next few months.
How well these movies do at the box office could determine if the Open Road business model will have long-term success.
Regal Entertainment Group’s second quarter earnings report may not be as robust as the first quarter.
So says the Wall Street Cheat Sheet.
The financial media company says domestic second quarter movie ticket sales didn’t live up to expectations and it is lowering revenue estimates for Knoxville-based Regal and other movie exhibitors.
Regal is now expected to report revenue of $729 million for the quarter, down from earlier projections of $762 million.
The Cheat Sheet cut its projected second quarter earnings per share for Regal to 20 cents from 31 cents.
Knoxville-based Regal Entertainment Group Inc. has been the dominate movie theater operator in
North America for years, but that could be about to change.
Dalian Wanda Group Co., a Chinese conglomerate, announced over the weekend that it plans to buy AMC Entertainment, the second-largest theater owner in the U.S.
Wanda and AMC said their merger would create the largest theater company in the world, according to a news release.
Opening weekend for the super hero movie “The Avengers” produced super ticket sales for movie theater operator Regal Entertainment Group.
The action film “earned an unprecedented $42 million in gross admissions revenue,” the Knoxville-based company said Monday.
The ticket total beat “previous company and domestic exhibition records,” according to a news release.
Movie theater operator Regal Entertainment Group is turning to the small screen to boost attendance.
The Knoxville-based company announced Wednesday that it has developed a new mobile app for smartphones.
“Regal App” provides information about movies, show times, special offers from Regal and allows users to purchase tickets.
The app is designed for iPhone and Android phones and is a free download available through the iTunes App Store and Android Market.
Regal Entertainment Group CEO Amy Miles remains the only female chief executive of a Tennessee-based public company, according to an annual report by Lipscomb University and Nashville CABLE, a diverse network of professionals.
The report “shows little progress toward gender diversity” in corporate boardrooms across the state in recent years. Since 2007 when the university researched the issue women have held between 7.9 and 8.3 percent percent of the board positions for Tennessee public companies, the report says.
The “Women in Corporate Leadership” study found that while 47 percent of the Tennessee work force was female in fiscal 2010, women held only 8 percent of the 566 public company board seats. Of the 17 new independent board directors appointed in Tennessee during fiscal 2010, only three were women.
Weak movie theater attendance has been a drag on Regal Entertainment Group profits in recent months, but that is changing in the opening weeks of 2012.
Two financial firms this week raised their ratings and price targets for the Knoxville-based theater operator’s stock, citing improved theater attendance and advertising.
Piper Jaffray upgraded its rating for both Regal and National CineMedia, an in-theater digital advertising venture co-owned by Regal, to overweight from neutral.
It has to be fun when a gamble pays off. Knoxville-based Regal Entertainment Group is enjoying just such a payoff this week with the success of the action movie “The Grey.”
The Liam Neeson film opened No. 1 at the box office, bringing in nearly $20 million in its first weekend. Reviews have been good and “The Grey” is likely to make a whole lotof money for its distributor Open Road Films.
Open Road was created in March a year ago by Regal, operator of the largest chain of movie theaters in North America, and AMC, the second largest. Regal and AMC gambled on Open Road in response to a decline in major studio releases and the threat of movies being released direct into the home with video-on-demand technology.
Movie theater attendance was down last year and 2012 expectations are uncertain. Even so, a writer for the investment website Investopedia says today it’s a good time to own Regal Entertainment Group stock.
Taking a less rosy outlook on the Knoxville-based movie theater operator are a pair of financial research firms that on Tuesday downgraded Regal stock and lowered their price estimates.
Who’s right?