| 15-Aug-05 06:52 ET In Play Imax may climb 15% or more - Barron's (IMAX) 10.18 : Barron's highlights IMAX, saying that while box-office sales by all US theaters are down about 10% this year sales at IMAX theaters are up sharply. Ticket sales for mainstream movies at the theaters jumped more than 150% per screen in the first 7 months of '05, helped by a doubling in the numbers of titles shown, to 4. Hot ticket sales, in turn, are stoking demand for IMAX's main business: outfitting theaters with sophisticated projection, screen and sound systems, including gear for 3D films. In the 12 months through June, IMAX signed up 51 theaters, more than triple the number of a year earlier. Says Brad Wechsler, co-CEO with Rich Gelfond: "We have only just begun to scratch the surface of our potential mkt." Street doesn't seem to be watching the show. IMAX's shares, at about 10, have gone nowhere this year. But bulls say they could easily rise 15%. The co's earnings guidance calls for jump of 50% or better this year, to around $0.38 per share, followed by perhaps a 40% rise in '06. Such growth lends real support to a stock trading at about 28x this year's earnings. "Things seem to be coming around right," says Peter Siris of Guerilla Capital. "This is not a co where you should invest your life savings but, as more good IMAX hits come out, especially a live-action 3D hit that can't be seen on ordinary screens, then I think IMAX will be a winner. And every new theater flows more or less straight to the bottom line." |
