Cinemark price target lowered to $13 from $16 at B. Riley

B. Riley analyst Eric Wold lowered the firm’s price target on Cinemark to $13 from $16 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst reduced his 2023 domestic industry box office projection from $9.5B to $8.9B, or a total that is roughly in line with both 2005 and 2006 and represents 78% of 2019 box office revenues. He also reduced his 2024 domestic industry box office projection from $10.7B to $10.1B, which would represent 89% of 2019 box office revenues. He’s correspondingly lowering estimates for the media group. Valuation multiples for the media group are depressed relative to historic levels given underlying concerns around the pace of the industry recovery and the ability to return to pre-pandemic profitability levels, but also should provide an attractive return opportunity for investors as EBITDA improves in the coming years along with an expectation for multiple expansion, Wold tells investors in a research note.