Shares of Cinemark Holdings Inc. CNK, -0.17% shot up 3.7% in premarket trading Friday, after the movie theater operator swung to a surprise fourth-quarter profit, the first profit in eight quarters, as revenue rose nearly seven-fold to beat expectations by a wide margin. The company reported net income of $5.7 million, or 5 cents a share, the first profit since the fourth quarter of pre-pandemic 2019, after a loss of $239.3 million, or $2.03 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for a per-share loss of 13 cents. Revenue rose 578.6% to $666.6 million, well above the FactSet consensus of $601.3 million, as admission revenue of $345.0 million beat expectations of $325.2 million and concession revenue of $248.1 million topped forecasts of $228.0 million. “We are highly encouraged by recent favorable developments in the state of the virus, government restrictions and associated consumer sentiment regarding moviegoing,” said Chief Executive Sean Gamble. The stock has gained 5.0% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 SPX, +2.24% has lost 8.8%.
