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Cineplex IncCGX.TODON'T BUYJan 19, 2015Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 19, 2026. Market Open.
Revenue growth is coming back a bit, with lower comparables from last year helping the year-over-year figures. Its debt levels are high, with net debt of $1.9B, and a net debt/EBITDA of 6.8X. Interest costs are $137M (last 12 months) and these will likely rise a bit with higher rates. 12-month cash flow was $116M and therein lies the problem. The debt is mostly due in the next five years. With attendance back, and a decent film slate, bankruptcy is becoming less of a concern, but it is still hard to paint a really positive picture here because of the leverage.
It is somewhat cheap (0.4X forward sales), but also has a fairly high forward P/E of 20.2X. It could become a takeover target, however, we would not place a high level of probability on that at these current levels.
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Cineplex remains a recovery story, and its beta of 2.88 signals more risk than usual. It rose 10% in Q1, but the chart was choppy. So, consider Cineplex a partial buy. After all, Covid didn’t kill cinema-going, as some expected, but deferred it. We still love the big screen. Read Dark horses: Nuvei, Cineplex, Boralex for our full analysis.
A large part of what this company does depends on the box office, and 2014 was not a good year, but 2015 could be. This goes in ebbs and flows. One of the bigger things for this company is the changing dynamic of how people watch things. If it is expensive to go to the movies, maybe you choose a non-demand service or a streaming service like Netflix. They have started offering other things in their theatres. There are better companies out there to own given the changing landscape.