Stocks · Communication Services · Advertising Agencies
National CineMedia, Inc. NCMI
$2.11 -0.47% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $197.9M
Weak trendInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Oct 29, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Over the past year the stock returned -52.7%, behind the S&P 500 by 67.8 percentage points.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- The stock is 53% below its highest close of the past year.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Communication Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 49%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 39%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 27%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 16%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 19%
- Gross marginTop 49%
- Operating marginBottom 17%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 44%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 14%
- Interest coverBottom 4%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 33%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 31%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 15%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 13%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 14%
- 6-month returnBottom 12%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 14%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 18%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 29%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 18%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 21%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 11%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 2%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 24%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 27%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 14%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 1.7% | 5.8% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 41.7% | 54.0% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | -10.0% | -7.1% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 10.3% | 8.7% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 5.8% | 1.7% | ↑ | Bottom 49% |
| Gross margin | 54.0% | 41.7% | ↑ | Top 49% |
| Operating margin | -7.1% | -10.0% | ↑ | Bottom 17% |
| Net margin | -3.1% | -8.6% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 8.7% | 10.3% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -4.6% | — | Bottom 19% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -0.8% | — | Bottom 27% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -7.4%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 2.4%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +2.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.71×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -35.4×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 5.76%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 2.38%
- Shareholder yield
- 8.14%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +75.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 2, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 3 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +32.9%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $4.63
- Target vs current price
- +119.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 17
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 35%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | -17.6% | -4.1% | -30.9% | -38.2% | — |
| May 12, 2026 | -19.2% | -2.9% | -14.4% | +2.0% | +15.8% |
| Feb 26, 2026 | +12.0% | +3.2% | +4.7% | -5.6% | -11.8% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | +156.6% | -2.4% | +4.6% | +4.1% | -9.9% |
| Aug 5, 2025 | +0.0% | -4.4% | -4.2% | -5.5% | -9.9% |
| May 6, 2025 | -60.0% | +3.4% | -9.1% | -5.7% | -14.3% |
| Mar 6, 2025 | +30.0% | -0.6% | -13.5% | -6.1% | -14.7% |
| Nov 5, 2024 | -48.1% | +2.5% | -8.4% | +2.4% | -4.9% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | -$0.10 | -$0.09 | -17.6% | $58.4M |
| May 12, 2026 | -$0.31 | -$0.26 | -19.2% | $34.0M |
| Feb 26, 2026 | $0.28 | $0.25 | +12.0% | $93.2M |
| Oct 30, 2025 | $0.02 | -$0.03 | +156.6% | $63.4M |
| Aug 5, 2025 | -$0.11 | -$0.11 | +0.0% | $51.8M |
| May 6, 2025 | -$0.32 | -$0.20 | -60.0% | $34.9M |
| Mar 6, 2025 | $0.26 | $0.20 | +30.0% | $86.3M |
| Nov 5, 2024 | -$0.04 | -$0.03 | -48.1% | $62.4M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 5.9× | — | — | Top 15% |
| EV / Sales | 0.71× | — | — | Top 13% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 10.92% | — | — | Top 31% |
| Earnings yield | -4.41% | — | — | Bottom 33% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 0.1× – 2.0× since Jun 29, 2023. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -18.0%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -5.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -25.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -37.2%
- RSI (14)
- 32.8
- Relative volume
- 0.57×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 125.7%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 93th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.60
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.18
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -52.6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -71.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 12, 2021 | Mar 17, 2023 | -98.3% | 507 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 2, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -32.4% | 18 days | 8 days (Nov 9, 2020) |
| Jan 27, 2021 | Jan 28, 2021 | -17.3% | 1 days | 18 days (Feb 24, 2021) |
| Feb 24, 2021 | Mar 3, 2021 | -15.9% | 5 days | 5 days (Mar 10, 2021) |
| Nov 10, 2020 | Nov 13, 2020 | -11.9% | 3 days | 2 days (Nov 17, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $197.9M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$0.09
- Revenue (TTM)
- $249.0M
- Dividend yield
- 4.27%
- 52-week range
- $2.00 – $4.56
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $114.6M | $249.2M | $165.2M | $240.8M | $243.2M |
| Gross profit | $37.7M | $131.3M | $85.1M | $72.8M | $73.8M |
| Operating income | -$68.6M | $6.9M | -$27.3M | -$19.5M | -$13.9M |
| Net income | -$48.7M | -$28.7M | $705.2M | -$22.3M | -$10.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$6.10 | -$3.49 | $14.52 | -$0.23 | -$0.11 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $62.4M | $86.3M | $34.9M | $51.8M | $63.4M | $93.2M | $34.0M | $58.4M |
| Net income | -$3.6M | $24.7M | -$30.7M | -$10.7M | $1.6M | $29.3M | -$28.6M | -$9.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.04 | $0.25 | -$0.32 | -$0.11 | $0.02 | $0.31 | -$0.31 | -$0.11 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$95.2M | -$47.3M | -$6.7M | $60.3M | $8.4M |
| Capital expenditure | -$5.7M | -$2.9M | -$3.3M | -$5.8M | -$5.6M |
| Free cash flow | -$100.9M | -$50.2M | -$10.0M | $54.5M | $2.8M |
| Dividends paid | -$16.9M | -$9.5M | -$500,000 | -$300,000 | -$11.4M |
| Net share buybacks | -$2.0M | -$200,000 | $0 | -$13.8M | -$22.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $43.1M
- Total assets
- $446.3M
- Total liabilities
- $112.0M
- Total debt
- $21.9M
- Net debt
- -$21.2M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $334.3M
As of Jul 2, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| May 22, 2026 | $0.03 | Jun 4, 2026 |
| Mar 9, 2026 | $0.03 | Mar 23, 2026 |
| Nov 10, 2025 | $0.03 | Nov 26, 2025 |
| Aug 15, 2025 | $0.03 | Aug 29, 2025 |
| May 16, 2025 | $0.03 | May 30, 2025 |
| Mar 24, 2025 | $0.03 | Apr 7, 2025 |
| Aug 19, 2022 | $0.03 | Sep 6, 2022 |
| May 20, 2022 | $0.03 | Jun 7, 2022 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 7,231,223
- Days to cover
- 10.74
- Change vs previous report
- -1.1%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Aug 4, 2023
- 1-for-10