AMC Entertainment said Thursday it plans to sell more than 11 million shares amid the trading frenzy in its stock.
“In accordance with the terms of the Distribution Agreement, we may, through our sales agents, offer and sell from time to time up to an aggregate of 11,550,000 shares of our Class A common stock,” AMC said in an Securities and Exchange Commission 8K filing.
Shares of AMC reversed course in premarket trading, dropping 6% after popping more than 20% in early trading.
AMC Entertainment is garnering attention for the WallStreetBets crowd in recent weeks, pushing the stock up nearly 140% this week to an all-time high of $62.55 on Wednesday. AMC is up 512% this quarter and a whopping 2,850% this year.
“We believe that the recent volatility and our current market prices reflect market and trading dynamics unrelated to our underlying business, or macro or industry fundamentals, and we do not know how long these dynamics will last. Under the circumstances, we caution you against investing in our Class A common stock, unless you are prepared to incur the risk of losing all or a substantial portion of your investment,” the company said in the 8K.
In a parallel nature to the epic short squeeze of GameStop in January, short-sellers have increased their bets against AMC shares over the last month, possibly fueling the move higher. About 18% of the AMC shares available for trading are still sold short through Wednesday, according to S3 Partners.
AMC said it plans to use the money from the stock sale for “general corporate purposes,” which may include paying down existing debt, acquisition of theatre assets, among other things.
B. Riley Securities and Citigroup Global Markets are AMC’s sale agents for the stock sale.
Separately, AMC on Tuesday announced a sale of 8.5 million shares to Mudrick Capital at approximately $27.12 per share — worth about $230.5 million. The investment firm then sold its entire stake in AMC that same day for a profit, cashing in on the stock’s pop, Bloomberg News reported.
