New Activity for Class: Statement of Cash Flows: AMC Entertainment vs. Cinemark Holdings

Want a ready-to-use activity that brings the statement of cash flows to life with real companies? This classroom activity uses AMC Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings, two movie theater chains with dramatically different 2025 cash flow statements, to help students see what strong and struggling cash flows actually look like. It includes condensed one-page statements of cash flows for both companies, 12 polling questions to help students analyze the two statements of cash flows, and a complete PowerPoint slide deck that includes the polling questions, ready for you to copy and paste into your own slide deck.

AMC Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings are both publicly traded movie theater chains, but their 2025 statements of cash flows tell very different stories. AMC reported a net loss of $632.4 million and negative operating cash flows of $119.8 million. To fund its operations, the company raised $169.6 million through new equity issuances and $244.4 million in new debt, resulting in $125.2 million in net cash provided by financing activities. Cinemark, by contrast, reported net income of $141.5 million and generated $396.1 million in positive operating cash flows. The company used that cash to fund capital expenditures, repay debt, repurchase stock, and pay dividends.

The contrast between these two companies makes them a strong pairing for introducing students to cash flow analysis, particularly the practice of reading all three sections of the statement of cash flows together.

I developed a classroom activity using condensed statements of cash flows from both companies’ 2025 Annual Reports (Form 10-K). Students work in pairs to answer 12 polling questions that guide them through the operating, investing, and financing sections before asking them to evaluate the overall financial strength of each company.

The activity includes:

• A PowerPoint slide deck with both statements of cash flows and all 12 questions, formatted for use with a classroom polling tool (download at this link) or simply by asking students to raise their hands to vote on the answer
• A condensed, one-page statement of cash flows for AMC in Word format
• A condensed, one-page statement of cash flows for Cinemark in Word format
• Answers to the polling questions in the slide deck (request the answers to the polling questions at this link; check your spam folder a week after requesting, I send out requests about once a week)

Discussion Questions

1. AMC reported net cash provided by financing activities of $125.2 million in 2025, while also reporting a net loss of $632.4 million. What does this suggest about how AMC is funding its operations?
2. Cinemark generated $396.1 million in positive operating cash flows in 2025, while also showing negative investing cash flows and negative financing cash flows. What does this overall pattern indicate about Cinemark’s financial health?
3. Both companies reported large negative net cash from investing activities in 2025. What does this suggest about the capital investment strategies of each company?
4. Based solely on the statement of cash flows, which company appears to be in a stronger financial position, and what specific evidence from the statements supports your conclusion?

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