Read This Before Buying AMC stock

Earlier this month, when AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) released its latest quarterly results, CEO Adam Aron talked up both better-than-expected results and his optimism about the current fiscal quarter. Yet while the movie theater chain, whose shares were once one of the top meme stocks out there, may have stronger results next quarter, don't get too confident about a recovery.

There's a good reason why shares have been steadily selling off since earnings day on Nov. 5. It all has to do with the company's ongoing dilution spiral, and why this already bad situation could get far worse pretty quickly.

Image source: Getty Images.

What's behind AMC Entertainment's post-earnings pullback

For the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2025, AMC Entertainment reported a modest decline in total revenue, a moderate drop in adjusted EBITDA, and a steep jump in net loss.

Source: Company filing. YOY = Year over year.

Yes, a large amount of AMC's net loss for the quarter was due to a one-time, refinancing-related non-cash expense. As Aron noted, third-quarter 2025 was not a great quarter in terms of new film releases. Still, with the company reporting negative free cash flow of $81.1 million, cash burn persists.

After starting the year at around $632.3 million, AMC's cash position is now only $365.8 million. Even if fourth-quarter 2025 box office knocks it out of the park and leads to adjusted EBITDA of around $190 million, on par with that of last quarter, this may be just enough to cover interest expenses and capital expenditures. There would be little remaining to repay AMC's $4 billion in outstanding debt.

The dilution spiral could intensify

In recent years, AMC has relied on the sale of new equity to absorb operating losses, tapping into the stock's meme stock popularity to attract this new capital. Shares have hence remained stuck in a dilution spiral.

That's a large reason why AMC shares, split-adjusted, have fallen by over 99% since their meme stock peak. As an item up for vote at its Dec. 10, 2025, shareholder meeting, AMC has included a proposal to double the share count, from 550 million to 1.1 billion.

If approved, that doesn't necessarily mean AMC plans to immediately issue 550 million additional shares. Still, depending on what degree the company wants to reduce debt, another big dilution wave may be coming.

Should you buy AMC Entertainment?

If all AMC does, assuming it gets approval to raise the share count, is sell just enough shares to bring its cash position back to end-of-2024 levels, that would still mean over 100 million new shares, representing a moderately high amount of share dilution.

Even if shareholders reject the proposal, AMC's financial troubles won't go away. The company would have to tap into debt financing sources. A further leveraging of the balance sheet could have a similarly bad effect on the stock price.

Hence, the best move for investors looking at AMC Entertainment is to stay away. Better ways to play a continued movie theater attendance recovery, such as Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), remain out there.

Thomas Niel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.