North America's box office will likely rise 7% year-on-year to $9.1 billion in 2025 regardless of the economic uncertainty, Wedbush said in a note Wednesday.
Based on upcoming releases at CinemaCon, major studios showed a "compelling" and "genre-balanced" 2025 and 2026 that will drive people to theaters, Wedbush analysts said.
"The theater business has historically been resilient in recessions, with attendance driven by content quality and viewed as a relatively inexpensive escape from reality," they said.
"We are more concerned about content quality than with overarching economic pressure on attendance," they added. They expect a further increase of 7.5% in 2026 to $9.8 billion.
Wedbush kept Imax as its top pick for the sector, expecting it to gain further market share thanks to IMAX screens.
The analysts also said they are warming up to Cinemark (CNK) and AMC (AMC) as their shares have fallen below their price targets on "perceived economic weakness, despite favorable industry tailwinds in a typically recession-resistant space."
Wedbush retained its outperform rating on National CineMedia (NCMI), saying that the box office rebound should create some safety for advertisers looking for strong returns.
Price: 22.41, Change: -0.16, Percent Change: -0.73
免責聲明：投資有風險，本文並非投資建議，以上內容不應被視為任何金融產品的購買或出售要約、建議或邀請，作者或其他用戶的任何相關討論、評論或帖子也不應被視為此類內容。本文僅供一般參考，不考慮您的個人投資目標、財務狀況或需求。TTM對信息的準確性和完整性不承擔任何責任或保證，投資者應自行研究並在投資前尋求專業建議。