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Cineplex IncCGX.TOCOMMENTJan 12, 2018Stock 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.
It's been a tough year for them. A lot of headwinds that had been building for a few years, finally hit them this year. The suite of movies was not as strong. Has done a great job of diversifying with rec room, which has been a huge success. Their Digital business is really, really great. There are too many headwinds. Dividend yield of about 4%, but are paying out 100% of free cash flow. Don't get sucked in by looking at the dividend yield. If the box office doesn't change, at some point they will not be able to sustain their free cash flow. He is not looking at this one.