AMC Entertainment shares up nearly 25% as transaction volume increases

July 20 (Reuters) – Shares of AMC Entertainment (AMC.N) closed up 24.5% on Tuesday after an end-of-session spike in session volume boosted the cinema operator who was is very much focused on social media.

AMC shares closed the session at $ 43.09 after hitting $ 44.39. With a trading volume of around 166 million shares, it was the second most actively traded stock on the US stock exchanges that day.

While the volatile stock was up sharply throughout the trading day, it picked up speed in the last hour of trading when it broke above $ 40 for the first time since July 13.

AMC’s Monday night announcement may have helped shares on Tuesday night that it planned to start operating theaters in two high-grossing locations in Los Angeles, starting in August and that it was in active discussions with other owners regarding the use of currently closed pitches. .

AMC’s shares were also bolstered this year by their popularity with retail investors using social media forums such as Twitter and Reddit to encourage each other to buy the shares. Along with video game retailer GameStop (GME.N), AMC was at the center of massive rallies in January as retail investors sought to hurt bearish hedge funds betting against stocks.

The stock recently lost ground after hitting a record high of $ 72.62 in early June, but it is still up about 1,933% so far for 2021.

About 75.84 million shares of AMC were sold short at Monday’s close, representing about 15% of its free float, down from 4 million shares in the past week, according to the latest data from S3 Partners.

For its second quarter ended in June, AMC is expected to report a quarterly loss per share of $ 0.93 on revenue of $ 369.93, according to analyst estimates collected by Refinitiv. AMC has not announced a release date for its second quarter results.

Reporting by Sinéad Carew; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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