Cinemark Stock Brushes Off Downgrade

Most of the analyst community is bullish on the movie theater stock

The shares of Cinemark Holdings, Inc (NYSE:CNK) are up 5.2% at $12.65 at last check, shaking off a downgrade from B. Riley to "neutral" from "buy," with an added price-target cut to $13 from $16. The analyst in coverage is skeptical about a rebound for the second half of 2020, and is also concerned by CNK's exposure to Brazil, where the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening.

CNK has traded sideways since gapping to a record low of $5.71 on March 23. The equity is down 65% in 2020, although a floor could be forming at the $12 level.

Today's downgrade flies in the face of the overall brokerage sentiment. Exactly 70% analysts sport a "strong buy" while the remaining three are at a tepid "hold." Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $21.64 is a 82.2% premium to last night's close.

A short squeeze could help the security break out. CNK short interest dropped 10% in the last reporting period, but still accounts for 11.66 million shares, or close to 11% of the stock's available float. At the stock's average daily trading volume, it would take almost three days to repurchase all of these pessimistic options.