Wen Pounce? AMC Entertainment CEO Hints At Crushing Short Sellers: Here's When The Squeeze Could Be On

Last year, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC CEO Adam Aron welcomed the support of retail investors and pledged to "go on offense" by opening new theater locations, expanding into alternative programming and accepting a handful of cryptocurrencies.

Now the AMC CEO looks to be calling a new play. 

What To Know: The retail investing crowd, who call themselves apes, will give you several different reasons why they continue to buy and hold AMC stock, but they are all on the same page about inducing a massive short squeeze and it seems Aron is rallying the troops.

The AMC CEO on Thursday noted that he keeps getting asked: "Wen pounce?"

"Know this: 1. I always keep my word. 2. I’ve said publicly a pounce would not happen before Second Quarter 2022 earnings are announced. 3. Press release issued today that Q2 earnings to be announced on Thurs, August 4. Read between those lines," Aron said via tweet.

AMC announced Thursday it will report its second-quarter financial results after the market closes on Aug. 4. Aron made it clear that "a pounce" would not occur until sometime after the company's upcoming report, however, the "I always keep my word" part suggests that said "pounce" will definitely take place at some point. 

It seems Aron is hinting at crushing short sellers. At this time, 21.91% of AMC's float is currently sold short, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Why It Matters: This isn't the first time the AMC CEO has taken an apparent shot at those betting against his company. Last year, during a live interview with Trey's Trades YouTube channel host Trey Collins, Aron "accidentally" dropped his webcam, revealing that he was not wearing pants. Many believed this was a way to stir up talk about short sellers. 

Following AMC's strong earnings results at the end of June, Aron took to Twitter Inc TWTR to celebrate the company's success. 

Other than a few idiots that readily come to my mind, and likely yours, who in the - - - - can still say movie theatres are dead and have no future? Thank you Tom Cruise. Top Gun: Maverick just crossed $1 billion in global box office, in less than one month! #CHOKEonTHAT pic.twitter.com/gZMAsfnSeY

— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) June 26, 2022

The “choke on that” part could have been in reference to short sellers once again. The hashtag "#chokeonthat" trended on Twitter following Aron's tweet.

Related Link: AMC CEO Touts 'Top Gun' And Taunts Short Sellers After Shares Popped 12% At Monday Close

Retail darlings GameStop Corp. GME and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY also soared on Thursday, which seemed to wake up the AMC apes, but nothing rattles the cages of the apes more than a battle cry from the leader of the troop — apes strong together.

AMC Price Action: AMC has a 52-week high of $55.07 and a 52-week low of $9.70. The stock closed Thursday up 15.19% at $14.48. 

Photo: samantha celera from Flickr