It's on the house [SolStock/E+ via GettyImages]
The corn is popping... and AMC smells butter. AMC stock nearly doubled yesterday, rallying a whopping 95%. Shares popped so quickly that they triggered four NYSE trading halts — aka: the NYSE temporarily paused trading of AMC stock, because it moved too rapidly outside of its "price band." This year, the stock is up over 3,000%, and AMC now boasts a $28B market cap, up from $500M a year ago.
The corn is free... AMC stock closed at a record high yesterday, even while 30% of movie theaters are still closed and some studios are going direct-to-streaming. Retail traders have rallied around the stock, helping AMC avoid pandemic bankruptcy. Now, AMC is turning its individual shareholders into loyalty members:
AMC is catering to the retail investor... 3.2M individual investors own 80% of AMC shares. Now, AMC is taking steps to engage retail shareholders in a way we haven't seen before. In the words of AMC's Aron: "these people are the owners of AMC, and I work for them.” AMC's moves speak to the growing importance of retail investors in the markets.