Amazon Continues To Smell Blood In Them Streets
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, involved in the theatrical exhibition business. The company owns, operates, or has interests in theatres. As of December 31, 2018, it owned, operated, or had interests in 637 theatres with a total of 8,114 screens in the United States; and 369 theatres and 2,977 screens in European markets.
AMC stock has fallen sharply during the pandemic as its theaters in the U.S. and much of the rest of the chain remain closed, and its future is highly certain. A couple of months ago, AMC Entertainment Holding Inc. reported fourth quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates, reported a loss of $13.5 million in the quarter, compared with net income of $170.6 million in the year-ago fourth quarter.
Amazon smelled blood and according to a report in the Daily Mail, Amazon was considering buying the movie theater chain. Amazon has long been active in video streaming and also has a strong business in connected TV devices with products like Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.
Last week, J.C Penney filed for bankruptcy. Part of the restructuring involves closing 30% of the over 800 stores. Amazon smells blood and now there are reports that Amazon (AMZN) is reportedly in talks with JCPenney (JCP) to buying some of their stores to use as distribution outlets.
The rise of ecommerce outlets has made it harder for traditional retailers to attract customers to their stores. Instead of waving the “white flag,” Kohl’s partnered with Amazon. A year ago, Kohl's started accepting Amazon returns and has Amazon shops in their stores where they sell Amazon products such as the Echo smart speakers.
The partnership simplifying the returns process for Amazon and showcasing Echo devices and other Alexa-compatible hardware and in return brings in addition foot traffic into the Kohl’s stores. However, unlike Amazon who is thriving during these circumstances, Kohl’s reported earnings earlier this week and said it lost $3.20 a share on revenue of $2.43 billion. Analysts were looking for a per-share loss of $1.76 on revenue of $2.15 billion.
Will Amazon eventually smell the blood oozing from Kohl’s?
If the idea rings a bell, it may be because the prospect of e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) acquiring brick-and-mortar outfit Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) first surfaced in 2017.
Yes, Amazon would instantaneously own the physical footprint that it seems to want. Assuming its current market capitalization represents its value to a suitor, Amazon would have access to more than 1100 sizable retail locales. Kohl's would enjoy a much stronger marketing effort too, with its parent able to direct more than 100 million U.S. customers toward the stores.
Such a pairing, however, would have much more meaningful strategic implications. A deeper relationship would be a means of giving Kohl's access to more exclusive brands that are now only part of Amazon's private label operation, and Kohl's would be a better distribution channel for those goods.
Kohl's was once an $80 stock, which now trades at $18. Amazon has time to wait for the stock price to go lower, right now their hands are full with the addition of almost 300, 000 employees that were hired within the last two months. They are so busy that they had to push their Prime Day, which is usually in July to Sept.
This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn't financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.
