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Movie Theaters Industry Guide

Essential resources for researching and understanding the movie theater and cinema industry.

Company Perspective & Strategy

Note that companies rarely post their complete strategies or their observations about the industry on their websites for the world to see.  Why not?  Because if companies let everyone know their entire strategy -- where they are going, what their plans are, where they might be expanding, what new products they will launching,  how they are reacting to changes in the industry, etc. -- they will lose their competitive advantage.  Losing a competitive advantage can cost a company money.  

Therefore, it is very difficult to find information about a company's strategy.  However, you can sometimes glean small tidbits of a company's strategy by reading company news, 10-K reports, earnings conference calls, and investment publications.  This page shows you where to find that information.  You can also use the resources below to better understand a company's perspective on the industry to better understand the environment in which the company, and its industry peers, operate. 

Use Nexis Uni to find Earnings Conference calls.  Quarterly earnings conference calls are recorded as print transcripts, and can be found in Nexis Uni (formerly Lexis-Nexis Academic). The reports can be an effective way of understanding some of the company's strategies or how they are dealing with industry pressures and competition.

 

Note:  You can find an August 2020 earnings conference call from AMC that discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business.  Use the tips below and enter AMC in the search box.  

 


Find Earnings Call Transcripts in NexisUni

Use NexisUni  (link above) as described and shown below to find earnings conference call transcripts.

  1. Click "A publication"  in  "What are you interested in?".
  2. Enter your public company name in the search box
  3. Type" Disclosure" in the Find Publication box and select "FD (Fair Disclosure) Newswire."
  4. Click "Search"

Details on how to find earnings conference calls as written above

Public companies in the United States have to submit filings to the the Security and Exchange Commission.  The 10-K filings, filed by public companies at the end of their fiscal years, contain a good deal of information. 

  • Look for themes that may relate to a company's strategy in the Business Summary or Risk sections of the 10-K report. 
    • The company will address their major lines of business, as well as risks and challenges to the business.
    • Look at the Business Summary and Risk Factors (Item 1 and 1A), which is where the company will describe industry challenges
    • Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis, also gives the company's perspective on its business results and how it is doing within the industry.
  • You can find these filings in many company databases, or via the SEC website.