News about entertainment

Skydance (NYSE:SKYD) rose 10% to $7.84 in afternoon trading, recovering part of the drop that followed the separate trading of its Class B shares and warrants. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust gained 0.7%, while the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF fell 0.7%, which makes Skydance's gain stand out as company-specific. Spotify slipped 0.6% and Walt Disney 0.2%. Skydance remains 16% below the $9.28 level at which it started trading on the NYSE, and it is scheduled to post its first combined quarter, Q3 2026, on November 9, with warrant pressure and integration of its studios and streaming services still in focus.

Netflix shares are nearly 50% below their all-time highs as the streamer heads into earnings. Options prices imply a 9% post-earnings move, the highest since Q3 2022, when the stock was priced for 11% and surged 13%; it has had a median move of 7.25% over the last eight quarters. As of noon ET Tuesday, one and a half times more calls than puts had been bought. The largest trade was a seller of Nov. 20 70-strike puts for about $2 million, while more than 3,500 80-strike calls expiring Friday were bought for over $210K in premium, which would require a 20% surge to break even. The article suggests traders are betting Netflix's earnings losing streak could be ending.

AMC shares are up 83% year to date to $2.86 and Cinemark shares are up 68% to $38.72, well ahead of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF’s 12% gain, while IMAX is up 38%. AMC recently completed a refinancing that moved almost all of its remaining debt maturities into the next decade, which lowers its interest expense and the box office level it needs to break even. Its large debt load and negative stockholders’ equity remain, and the article warns that gains this steep can reverse quickly for a heavily indebted company. The case for holding rests on lower interest costs as attendance recovers, while the case for taking profits rests on the debt that remains.