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 Anonymous posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - 10:40 am
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What, no postings at all since Imax's stock free fall?
Yours truly,
An anonymous poster looking to stir it up |
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| Anonymous posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - 09:27 am
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| Can't talk now, too busy buying :-} |
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| Anonymous posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - 01:58 pm
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(different anonymous from above)
Glad to see another smart cookie out there :) |
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| Anonymous posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - 02:26 pm
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well I doubt Disney's quite so interested in buying Imax now.
A reliable source I spoke with recently says that Brad & Rich came to Imax HQ to give everyone a pep talk soon after the stock took its dive, and assured them that the company was in no danger of going under and is actually still strong. Apparently, the purchase of DLP and Sonics took a big bite outta the profits, but these are substantial aquisitions that will help Imax grow rather than hinder it. You folks out there buying up Imax stock are wise indeed, because it will pretty much only go up at this point (apologies to anyone who bought at it's peak of 28).
The Chapter 11-ing of various North American theater chains, while they did not directly affect Imax, did take their toll, however, in reducing market confidence in Imax, and this is also a factor in the stock fall.
see 'where is the outcry' section on this message board)
A lot of the market saturation fears have been justified this year, but instead of the commercial theaters taking out the institutions, it has been the other way around...the commercial guys have profit, and only profit, to stay afloat. (and not many of them have shown much, if any profit) If the institutional guys run out of cash, that's sure not good, but they still have donors and benefactors and underwriters to tide them through the slow times. I suspect that in ten years, most institutional theaters operating now will still be doing so, but the commercial theaters will have pulled out of the Imax game in favor of the rapidly growing digital projection systems.
The same source cited cases of extreme neglect and even abuse of the projectors in the commercial theaters...lamps at over 1500 hours (with none on order), rust and corrosion on less-than-one-year old machines, revolving door hiring for the projectionists, etc.
I think Imax is learning that institutions are their bread-and-butter, and they will be more supportive towards them in the near future. |
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| Anonymous posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - 09:14 pm
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Re: Last Anon posting makes a lot of good points.
I especially agree that Imax needs to look after, even nourish its base - the institutional theatres. However, that won't necessarily solve Imax's financial problems in the short term - remember, many of these theatres don't pay license fees, and unless Imax Film Distribution leases films to these theatres, Imax may not see a financial incentive to focus on institutional theatres.
I disagree that the DPI and Sonics acquisitions took a "big bite out of profits" - a bite out of CASH, yes, but not profits. Imax has made it clear in their recent communications that DPI on a pro forma basis has contributed more than a $1 million + in profits they didn't have a year ago before the acquisition. I agree the DPI acquisition was a smart move, both to insulate against the current drop in earnings on the core System business, and to prepare for a more profitable (digital) future.
I would caution against assuming the stock price is destined to go up. This seems to be based on an assumption that the stock has been irrationally oversold. That could be the case, and the breathtaking free fall of Imax's share price makes this seem intuitively correct. However, I would strongly recommend that anyone thinking of buying Imax stock with the expectation of it going up should look very carefully at the fundamentals of Imax's business, their business model, their balance sheet (esp.!), and expected revenues and profits (losses) over the next 12 - 24 months. One could make the argument that Imax's equity is somewhere between "zero" and about $2 per share, based on the fundmamentals. Yes, $2. This company is in serious trouble, more problems will surface, (some have been forecast by the Company), and the ripple effect of Imax's woes may affect the whole industry in adverse ways. (Opportunities will surely surface amidst this chaos too).
What happens to independent film production if producers see a stagnating or shrinking theatre count, and commercial theatres continue to have problems paying their bills? Will sponsors be scared away? Who will make 3D films any more if Imax says they can't and won't because the can't make money at it? What if Imax cuts their work force so much (to save money) that technical service suffers (more than it was suffering under the strain of recent growth)and IMAX projectors lose their historic reliability? What if, God forbid, Imax goes under? Who will step up? Does Imax get sold off in pieces?
Lots to consider. New leadership, and some new approaches for this industry are urgently required. Where will it come from? |
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| Anonymous posted on Tuesday, November 28, 2000 - 03:16 pm
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| There is a rather substantial discussion of Imax's current struggles, commercial theater problems, digital projection, etc. on Yahoo. Go to Yahoo's stock quotes screen, call up a quote for IMAX and then go to the message board. Some 2,000 plus postings, some blather, but some interesting and informative stuff as well. |
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| Anonymous posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2000 - 03:33 pm
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Hey all you Imax Stock watchers...see today's news on CNN web (financial) low trade $2.88. Seems to have dipped below the psychological #3.00 barrier. Must be the result of being down graded by Moody's
(see http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001204/n04386056_2.html) |
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| Anonymous posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2000 - 04:33 pm
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"NEWS FLASH"
- Dow closes up 337.77
- Nasdaq closes up 274.05
- Imax closes down 0.31
- Dogs and Cats living together
What does this mean?
The Anonymous Preacher |
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| Anonymous posted on Monday, December 11, 2000 - 02:43 pm
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| A tidbit of news I heard today...NJ Engineering has closed its doors....can anyone validate this? |
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| Anonymous posted on Monday, December 11, 2000 - 09:38 pm
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Can't confirm NJ Engineering's alleged demise, although I did hear a similar story alleging the same thing about Cinema Technologies Inc. (the folks who made the 15/70 equipment for Iwerks).
In keeping with the closed doors theme though, did anyone catch this article in The New York Observer? The headline was:
Co-C.E.O. of Imax Shown the Door At 888 Park Avenue Board Nixes $13 Million Purchase By Imax Films Executive and Wife
It ran on page 29 in the 11/27/00 edition of The New York Observer. Full text is available at http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=3474. |
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| Anonymous posted on Tuesday, December 12, 2000 - 12:36 pm
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| I have heard indirectly that NJ Engineering and Cinema Technologies, Inc. are history, but Neil Johnson (the man behind the companies) lives on and is still in the large format projector business. I've heard that the closing of these companies was more of a business strategy than a throwing-in of the towel by Mr. Johnson. |
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| Cinema Film Systems has closed and the had been the source for a lot of the non Imax branded lamphouses and CCU's sold under various names |
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| Anonymous posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2000 - 11:47 am
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| I believe you are referring to Cinema Technologies, Inc., which has been closed as a business strategy. Neil Johnson, owner of CTI, remains in the large format projector manufacturing business. |
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Anonymous No I was refering to Cinema Film Systems Glendale CA.
They were a westcoast manufacturer of 35/70mm equipment and a OEM builder of special venue equipment. They built CCU's Rectifiers and Lamphouses for many other large format users.
They were the source of many Iwerks 8perf and the last distributor listed for the Ultra70 world oddessy 15perf machine. They were also were involved according to there last advertisiments in the Maverick projector
They failed to show up at Showeast for there booth and the second day of the show the news brock that they had folded |
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