New Line Cinema Corp. had a terrific run on Wall Street yesterday on an upbeat analyst report.
The indie's stock climbed 7.2% to close at $ 14.875 with some 485,000 shares trading hands, a tremendous volume compared to an average daily turnover of 18, 900.
The move came after a report by Goldman Sachs & Co. analyst Richard Simon upgraded the stock to "trading buy" from "market performer" yesterday morning.
The analyst says the change reflects his belief that because of the company's relatively small size, the stock can benefit notably in the short term from some soon-to-be-released films if they become hits.
"It's risky to speculate about new movies," he says, but should "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III" do well, they could have a significant effect on earnings. New Line is distributing the two films.
Simon has established a 1993 earnings range of 80 cents to $ 1.60 a share for New Line.
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