AMC Theatres is seeing a massive stock surge, thanks to the WallStreetBets subreddit. The group was able to take GameStop stock from $20 over $300, which is where it currently sits. For AMC Theatres, they are currently at the same level they were pre-pandemic, which is massive. The popular movie chain announced this week that they were able to raise enough capital to stay afloat throughout 2021. Over 60% of movie theaters in North America remain closed, due to the public health crisis, though it’s looking like things could get back to some form of normalcy by late summer or early fall.
Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings were at about $4 when the week started and they are now currently at $16. The Reddit group WallStreetBets is behind the recent surge, and it looks like it’s about to get a lot higher. The group brought GameStop back into the news and they are doing the same with AMC, though at a bit slower of a pace. WallStreetBets describes themselves, “like 4chan found a Bloomberg Terminal,” which is pretty accurate. They are taking the digital streets and sinking hedge funds.
Apps like Robinhood and WeBull have turned investing into a game for some users who never even thought of getting into the stock market before. However, WallStreetBets takes highly volatile stocks and either makes the users a lot of money in a short amount of time, or takes it all away. Whatever the case may be, either result is celebrated on the popular subreddit with memes and screenshots. One lucky user was able to turn $50,000 into $22 million off the GameStop spike, thanks to a 41,000% gain.
Will AMC Theatres see GameStop numbers? That is unclear at the moment, but the buzz on WallStreetBets sure makes it look that way. 2020 was not a good year for anybody especially movie theaters, as AMC flirted with Bankruptcy until just this week. There were reports of the theater chain never opening its doors again after the pandemic, though things are looking up now. Major studios have a massive backlog of movies that will be hitting theaters in the next handful of months, as long as the public health crisis starts trending in a positive light.
Some have described the current stock market as one massive bubble that is just about to burst, which is a big fear. Others are gleefully trying to buck the system while they can, referring to stocks as “stonks” and churning out memes, while making a decent amount of cash at the same time. People are calling the WallStreetBets movement “caddies vs. the country club members,” and it sees no sign of dying out anytime soon. With box office not in the picture for the moment, AMC Theatres has yet to comment on their surging stock prices that have come from Reddit users. Entertainment Weekly was one of the first outlets to report on the recent AMC Theatres stock price surge.