Cinemark Holdings pullback provides entry point ahead of expected 2Q23 upside – B.Riley

B.Riley upgraded Cinemark Holdings (NYSE:) to Buy from Neutral, raising the price target to $23 from $20 per share in a note Wednesday.

Analysts said the stock’s recent pullback provides an entry point ahead of its “expected 2Q23 upside and continued recovery performance.”

Cinemark shares are up almost 7% premarket at the time of writing, trading above the $17 mark after a 13% decline in the last month of trading.

“While we acknowledge this move comes only about four weeks after we downgraded CNK from Buy to Neutral, recall that opinion change was based mostly on valuation as shares approached our PT, and we felt compelled to increase the valuation discount rate until we adjusted our 2024 estimates to reflect continued film slate risk stemming from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike,” explained analysts.

“With the pullback in shares since that time, the strong likelihood, in our opinion, of upside 2Q23 results in early August, and confidence in continued over-indexing relative to the exhibition peer group, we are taking this opportunity to move off the sidelines.”