AMC Entertainment Holding Inc. rose in the after-hours session on Monday after the cinema giant first quarter earnings results finished above Wall Street’s estimates. AMC shares closed at $17.20 but after gaining 5.5% during the day.

The share then gained 5.5% in the extended session after the announcement of the results. The movie theater operator had a superb first quarter as a result of the tremendous positive response to Jumanji and Black Panther.

Nordic Cinema Group, which AMC recently acquired also had a significant contribution to its revenue stream.

AMC Earnings & Outlook

AMC reported a net income of $0.14 a share, or $17.7M in the first quarter of 2018, compared with $0.07 a share, or $8.4M in the same period last year.

Revenue climbed to $1.38B from $1.28B in the same period last year. FactSet analysts had estimated earnings per share of $0.07 on revenue of $1.35B.

AMC admissions revenue climbed to $875 million, or 7% while its beverage and food revenues climbed to $405.8 million or 2%. U.S revenues drop to $982.1M, versus the previous-year quarter total of $992.2M, but global markets saw the company’s revenue increase to $401.5M, versus the $298.2M which it earned during the prior-year period.  

AMC Entertainment CEO Comments

AMC Entertainment Chief Executive Officer and President Adam Aron made these remarks during the announcement of the company’s earnings report: “We are truly heartened by AMC’s start to 2018 and couldn’t be more excited about the prospects for the year after the record-breaking success of Avengers: Infinity War early in the second quarter. From an industry perspective, the first quarter of 2018 far exceeded most everyone’s early expectations, declining only 2.6% from the record-setting first quarter of a year ago.”

“Q1 ’18 was another quarter of some records for the industry box office and another quarter where AMC set some records as well. Although, we were together on our last call, only 60 days ago, we have accomplished much in that short time since. And in so doing, we now have high confidence that AMC should perform well for the second quarter 2018 and beyond,” Aron added.