Regal, Cinemark: Movie Theater Winners

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Regal Entertainment(RGC) and Cinemark(CNK) shares are climbing today after two analysts raised their ratings on the movie theater stocks and provided solid domestic and international industry forecasts.

Analyst David Miller with Caris upgraded Regal to an above average rating from average as he expects the domestic box office to see strong results in the second and third quarter.

"The studio system looks as strong, if not stronger, than 2009, a year the U.S. box office finished up 10% [year-over-year]," Miller said in a Jan. 18 note to investors.

>>2011 Box Office Hinges on Sequels, 3D Movies

Miller anticipates that the movie industry will see strong sales in the summer of 2011, on titles such as DreamWorks'(DWA) Kung Fu Panda, Viacom's(VIA) Transformers 3, Disney's(DIS) Cars 2, Time Warner's(TWX) The Hangover 2 and the final installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise.

Miller says Regal is the "No. 1 market share player domestically," as the company has "tremendous supplier power over the studio system with 6,723 screens." He predicts that the company will report total revenue of $3.01 billion in 2011, up from an estimated $2.83 billion in 2010. His earnings estimate for 2011 is 79 cents a share, up from his estimated 27 cents per share in 2010.

Cinemark shares are rising almost 2% after analyst David Gober of Morgan Stanley raised his rating on the stock to equal weight from underweight due to the company's expansion in Latin America.

"While we remain cautious on U.S. theatrical attendance trends, Cinemark's growth in Latin America continues to surprise to the upside with 15% to 20% organic revenue growth over the past few years," Gober said in a Jan. 18 research note.