Why Altice USA (ATUS) Shares Are Trading Lower Today

What Happened:

Shares of telecommunications and cable services provider Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) fell 13.6% in the morning session after Wells Fargo analyst downgraded the stock's rating from Equal Weight (Hold) to Under Weight (Sell) and lowered the price target from $2 to $1. The analyst cited "increased competition in the fiber business" and raised doubts about a potential acquisition by Charter Communications. As a reminder, shares of ATUS rose in February 2024 after Bloomberg reported that Charter Communications was considering acquiring the company.

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What is the market telling us:

Altice USA's shares are very volatile and over the last year have had 82 moves greater than 5%. But moves this big are very rare even for Altice USA and that is indicating to us that this news had a significant impact on the market's perception of the business.

Altice USA is down 32.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $2.18 per share it is trading 40.1% below its 52-week high of $3.64 from August 2023. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Altice USA's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $95.60.

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