Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF) Tanks 32 Percent as Earnings Disappoint

The shares of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (USA) (NYSE:LGF) declined to its lowest level in seven years after reporting fiscal 2016 third-quarter earnings that disappointed investors on Friday.

The stock price of the company was down more than 32% to $17.24 at the time of this writing around 12:02 in the afternoon in New York.

Amy Yong, an analyst with Macquarie Capital USA, told Bloomberg, “Part of the reason the stock is down is that the numbers keep coming down for Mockingjay.”

Lions Gate financial results

Lion Gate Entertainment reported a net income of $40.7 million or $0.27 in earnings per share, down from $0.70 in the same period a year ago. The company’s revenue declined from $751.3 million to $670.5 million.

According to the company, its adjusted EBITDA was $53.6 million and free cash flow was $73.9 million.

In a statement, Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer, said, “While the performance of our theatrical film slate resulted in softer than anticipated results, our other businesses performed strongly in the quarter. With our television business continuing its robust topline and margin growth, a deeper and more diversified film slate with lower costs and contributions anticipated from recently launched businesses, we have a clear path to resume our strong and sustainable financial trajectory in fiscal 2017.”

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2 box office performance

Lions Gate Entertainment said its financial adjusted EBITDA, EPS, and revenue declined during the quarter due to the performance of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2, which generated $650 million at the global box office. Although the film was among the highest-grossing of the year, its box office performance was lower than Mockingjay 1.

During the company’s earnings call, Feltheimer said, “Mockingjay 2’ is underperforming our ultimate profit margins by over $100 million, much of which hit in our guidance period.”

The company’s motion picture segment posted total revenue of $505.8 million and home entertainment segment recorded $142 million revenue. Its international motion picture segment generated $140.1 million revenue and television production segment $161.2 million.