Posts for Ticker ‘IMAX’

Top Analyst Downgrades (ATHN, SCHW, FPL, GENZ, IMAX, SONC)

These are this Friday’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research calls we have seen from Wall Street firms:

athenahealth (ATHN) Cut to Sell at Auriga.
Charles Schwab (SCHW) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
FPL Group (FPL) Started as Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Genzyme (GENZ) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
IMAX (IMAX) Cut to Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Sonic (SONC) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 18, 2009 – 8:07 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , ,

Despite Recent Gains, IMAX Short on Earnings (IMAX, DWA)

IMAX Corporation (NASDAQ: IMAX) is one of the entertainment operations that has been trying to remedy its woes, and its shares at one point were up 100% and more from the 52-week low.  This morning the company issued earnings under estimates at -$0.25 EPS on a 12.3% drop in revenues to $23.5 Million.  First Call had estimates at -$0.14 EPS on revenues of $25.4 million; and the loss for Q1 2007 was only -$0.12 EPS.

IMAX also noted that the seasonally weak quarter faced difficult comparison because of last year’s strong IMAX release of 300.  Below are some key metrics for last quarter and this quarter:

  • The Spiderwick Chronicles opened on February 15 and grossed $6.8 million in IMAX theaters.
  • Shine A Light, the Rolling Stones concert film opened April 4 and IMAX has grossed about $3.9 million to-date.
  • The company noted that it was disappointed that Spiderwick and Shine a Light did not perform as well as it had hoped.
  • On May 9, it grossed $1.9 million from 84 screens on the release weekend of Speed Racer.

A new announcement may mitigate the earnings discrepancy that has been seen this morning, although this is part of an ongoing award.  IMAX announced a deal with DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) to release Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa into IMAX theaters globally on November 7, 2008.

If you look through the numbers, the company’s rising cost structure is probably more to blame on the earnings front than anything sinister on the entertainment side:

  • SG&A expenses were $12.4 million in Q1, up from $10.3 million a year ago.
  • R&D costs rose to $2.5 million in Q1. up from $1.5 million a year ago, largely related to investments in its switch from film to digital technology.
  • Legal and professional fees (included SG&A) rose to $3.1 million in Q1 from $2.4 million a year ago.

With a last seen short interest of 2.25 million shares, or about 16-days volume, that may keep the selling from outweighing the buying after this stock opens.

Jon C. Ogg
May 12, 2008

Posted on: May 12, 2008 – 7:23 am in Earnings, Entertainment, ,

Pre-Market Stock News (November 9, 2007)

  • Allscripts (MDRX) traded down 25% after missing earnings estimates and after lower guidance for 2007 and 2008.
  • American Tower (AMT) replacing Alltel (AT) in S&P.
  • ARM Holdings plc (ARMHY) trading down about 4% pre-market.
  • Barclays (BCS) trading down 4% over rumors of credit losses and rumors of excutive departures.
  • Clearwire’s (CLWR) WiMAX offering with Sprint is being called off; shares down 15%.
  • Estee Lauder (EL) named new head from P&G; raised dividend and announced a share buyback.
  • IMAX (IMAX) -$0.19 EPS vs -$0.07 est.
  • JA Solar (JASO) traded up 5% after earnings.
  • Jones Soda (JSDA) traded down 15% after earnings
  • Manitowoc (MTW) being added to S&P.
  • Merck (MRK) settling about 1/3 of outstanding lawsuits on Vioxx for some $4.5 Billion.
  • Mirants (MIR) $1.14 EPS vs $0.84 est.; announced a $1 Billion share buyback.
  • NVIDIA (NVDA) traded up 6% after earnings and guidance, but shares were initially down in after-hours trading.
  • Priceline (PCLN) trading up over 10% after beating earnings.
  • Qualcomm (QCOM) trading down 7% after guidance disappointed.
  • Siemens (SI) announced a multi-billion Euro buyback in shares.
  • Starwood (HOT) raised dividend to rate of $0.90/year and added $1 Billion to share buybacks.
  • Wachovia (WB) taking a $1.1 Billion writedown on CDO’s; stock down 3%.

Jon C. Ogg
November 9, 2007

Posted on: November 9, 2007 – 8:29 am in Pre-Market Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (July 23, 2007)

AFL raised to Overweight at Lehman.
AMGN raised to Hold at Citigroup.
ASBC cut to Underweight at Lehman.
BUD raised to Hold at Citigroup.
CKR started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
EMN raised to Buy at Citigroup.
EOG cut to Sell at Citigroup.
FPL raised to Outperform at Baird.
FTO started as Neutral at UBS.
GAP cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
HBC raised to Overweight at Lehman.
IMAX raised to Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
KWK cut to Sell at Citigroup.
NVT raised to Buy at UBS.
PGN raised to Outperform at Baird.
PNY raised to Outperform at Baird.
SUN started as Neutral at UBS.
TAC cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
TSO started as Neutral at UBS.
VLO started as Buy at UBS.
VMSI cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
WNR started as Reduce at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
July 23, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: July 23, 2007 – 6:49 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,