A source told CNBC that IMAX has held "preliminary talks" through intermediaries, but no official pitches have been made by the company.
Wall Street is buzzing following reports that IMAX is exploring a sale.
Shares of the movie theater technology company were up roughly 14% Friday on speculation about potential buyers. A source familiar with the company told CNBC that IMAX has held "preliminary talks" through intermediaries, but no official pitches have been made by the company.
CNBC's source spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions. The Wall Street Journal first reported the potential sale process.
While IMAX may not be actively pursuing a sale, CEO Rich Gelfond has left the door open for a possible buyout. In December, he told shareholders during the company's investor day that IMAX is "an incredibly valuable player, either as a wholly differentiated publicly-traded company or as part of a larger company." Wall Street analysts broadly see IMAX as an attractive asset that could draw interest from a variety of businesses, from Hollywood studios and theatrical partners to fellow tech companies. Several analysts wrote that IMAX is currently undervalued.
"IMAX is a rare combination of a globally recognized premium brand, an asset-light licensing model, and a structurally expanding earnings profile," Wedbush Senior Vice President of Equity Research Alicia Reese wrote in a research note published Friday. "IMAX is trading at a discount to what we believe the business is worth as a standalone entity, let alone as a strategic acquisition target." As of midday Friday, IMAX shares were trading at nearly $39 apiece for a market capitalization of roughly $2.1 billion.
"A prospective acquirer would be buying one of the most defensible moats in entertainment for what amounts to a rounding error on the balance sheet of any major studio or technology platform," Reese wrote.
Reese suggested that IMAX's most likely suitors would include private equity, Netflix, Apple and Sony.
Private equity would avoid any potential conflict issues, as there would be no competing interest for screens, she noted.
Netflix, meanwhile, does not rely on theatrical releases as part of its main programing strategy, therefore its conflict of interest would be smaller than traditional Hollywood studios. Additionally, owning IMAX would provide any filmmaker that signed on to work with Netflix the opportunity for premium theatrical runs and could act as a "powerful recruiting tool," according to Reese.
As for Apple and Sony, both companies have strong technology businesses in addition to theatrical and streaming content. Although, Sony does not have its own streaming platform, while Apple has AppleTV.
"We would be surprised if any of the major Hollywood studios pursued an acquisition of IMAX given the competition with other studios for key IMAX release windows (and the likelihood that a studio would not want to share box office with another studio)," Eric Wold, executive director of equity research at Texas Capital Securities, wrote in a note to investors published Thursday. "By the same token, we do not believe any of the major exhibitor circuits would want another circuit to control the IMAX release slate and also share in its box office revenues." The potential buyer pool could be much wider, according to Mike Hickey, a Benchmark equity research analyst.
"We believe the potential buyer universe is unusually broad because IMAX operates less like a traditional theater chain and more like a premium entertainment technology platform," he wrote in a note published Friday. "Logical strategic candidates include Sony, Apple, Amazon, Disney, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Netflix, Sphere Entertainment, and Cinépolis, alongside sovereign-backed entertainment investors." Last year, IMAX generated a record $1.28 billion at the global box office, a more than 40% increase over 2024 and 13% higher than its previous record set in 2019.
Wold is projecting revenue of $448 million in 2026, higher than the $396 million the company collected in 2019. Additionally, he expects adjusted profit to reach $197 million, up from $149 million in 2019.
However, while IMAX is outperforming its 2019 metrics, its valuation has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, Wold noted. He reiterated that his price target for the company is $53 a share.
IMAX hit a 52-week high in late February, trading at $43.16 a share, but the stock has retreated following tough first-quarter comparisons to 2025, which included the record-breaking performance of China's "Ne Zha 2." Additionally, the company lost Greta Gerwig's "Narnia" film from the Thanksgiving holiday following an on-set injury that postponed production, leading to a significant gap in the calendar. IMAX has since replaced the film with David Fincher's "The Adventures of Cliff Booth," based on the breakout character from Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." The company still has Universal and Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" and Warner Bros.' and Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Three," due out in July and December, respectively, which are both expect to generate a significant portion of box office sales from IMAX screenings. That's in addition to Disney's "Toy Story 5" and "Moana," alongside Warner Bros.' "Supergirl," Lionsgate's "Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" and Universal's "Minions & Monsters." "In 2027, the company has at least 10 filmed for IMAX titles, including Narnia and a good mix of core franchises (Star Wars, Superman, Batman) and other films like 'The Thomas Crown Affair' and 'Miami Vice'," wrote Steve Frankel, senior research analyst for Rosenblatt, in a note published Friday. "Beyond Hollywood, the company's slate of local language titles continues to expand, including multiple titles Filmed for IMAX and alternative content, like live broadcasts of F1 races, continues to fill in gaps in the schedule." IMAX's "filmed for IMAX" content is accelerating and expected to grow materially through 2028. Moviegoers are drawn to titles that have been filmed on IMAX cameras with the intention of being shown on the larger, more impressive screens. Previous titles include Nolan's "Oppenheimer," James Cameron's and Disney's Avatar films, as well as entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and from DC Studios.
But IMAX is also diversifying beyond the Hollywood landscape. Internationally, it has partnered with China, Japan and South Korea to screen local language content. In doing so, the company had reduced its dependence on any single market or single content source, Reese noted.
The company is also actively expanding. Around 160 to 175 IMAX systems are expected to be installed in 2026, with contracts to build hundreds more already in place, the company told CNBC last year.
"We continue to be believers in the IMAX story," Frankel wrote. "The combination of the ongoing consumer shift to premium viewing experiences, the company's growing influence with leading filmmakers and a film slate that has diversified beyond Hollywood tent poles to include local languages and alternative content, sets the stage for strong box office growth and margin expansion." Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
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