Wall Street Zen Upgrades IMAX (NYSE:IMAX) to Strong-Buy

IMAX (NYSE:IMAX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

IMAX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of IMAX from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of IMAX in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of IMAX from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating on shares of IMAX in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of IMAX from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IMAX presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.80.

IMAX Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:IMAX opened at $24.78 on Friday. IMAX has a 1 year low of $18.76 and a 1 year high of $29.66. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 41.29, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.81.

IMAX (NYSE:IMAX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.07. IMAX had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The business had revenue of $91.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. IMAX’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that IMAX will post 0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IMAX declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, June 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IMAX. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of IMAX by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,508,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,420,000 after buying an additional 558,940 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of IMAX by 2,496.9% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 573,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,123,000 after buying an additional 551,819 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IMAX by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,823,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,671,000 after buying an additional 491,172 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its holdings in shares of IMAX by 12.3% in the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 3,882,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,311,000 after buying an additional 425,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of IMAX in the first quarter valued at about $11,181,000. 93.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

IMAX Company Profile

IMAX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a technology platform for entertainment and events worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Content Solutions and Technology Products and Services. The company offers IMAX DMR, a proprietary technology that digitally remasters films and other content into IMAX formats for distribution to the IMAX network; IMAX Enhanced that provides end-to-end technology across streaming content and entertainment devices at home; and SSIMWAVE, an AI-driven video quality solutions for media and entertainment companies.