Carmike Cinemas Inc. (CKEC) is expectedto report earnings after the market closes on Monday, May 7, 2012, with the conference call to be held at 5 p.m. EST.
CKEC is expected to lose $0.03 for its 1st quarter. Top Equity News expects the entertainment, digital cinema and 3-D motion picture presenter to report earnings that will beat Wall Street’s expectations. TEN’s estimate is a positive 2 cents – a 5 cent upside surprise.
Carmike has an evenly split history of earnings results relative to expectations. The company has topped forecasts eight of the last 16 announcements, missed six times, and met the mark twice.
However, when the movie theater company tops the Street’s consensus target, seven out of eight the stock price moved in favor of shareholders. In fact, six of the seven rallies have been at least 6.4%, with half (3) in excess of 28.8%.
The stock has been a big mover around earnings and in a good sign; analysts have been scrambling to up their estimates into the announcement. On Monday, one broker raised its estimates from a loss of 14 cents to a gain of 16 cents. In magnitude, that’s huge.
The standard deviation in estimates is 17 cents. For a stock that’s essentially predicted to breakeven, that’s huge. According to a study done on earnings surprises, companies with big differentials are likely to produce the biggest surprises..
On a side not, from experience, companies that report bad news tend to do it later in the week versus early in the week. It’s not foolproof, just an observation on my behalf.
Volume is increasing as Carmike Cinemas Inc. (CKEC) heads into Monday’s news. A positive earnings surprise and the price could move into uncharted territory with absolutely zero overhead resistance. On the flip side, TEN would exit stage left if shares close below $13.
Trading Earnings: Carmike Cinemas Inc. (CKEC) Earnings are Worth Watching is an article from: 
