Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) Just Released Its First-Quarter Earnings: Here's What Analysts Think

Investors in Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) had a good week, as its shares rose 6.1% to close at US$2.62 following the release of its quarterly results. It was a pretty bad result overall; while revenues were in line with expectations at US$2.2b, statutory losses exploded to US$0.16 per share. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

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Following the recent earnings report, the consensus from 16 analysts covering Altice USA is for revenues of US$8.57b in 2025. This implies a discernible 3.2% decline in revenue compared to the last 12 months. The loss per share is expected to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 78% to US$0.075. Before this latest report, the consensus had been expecting revenues of US$8.56b and US$0.19 per share in losses. While the revenue estimates were largely unchanged, sentiment seems to have improved, with the analysts upgrading their numbers and making a very favorable reduction to losses per share in particular.

Check out our latest analysis for Altice USA

There's been no major changes to the consensus price target of US$2.95, suggesting that reduced loss estimates are not enough to have a long-term positive impact on the stock's valuation. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. There are some variant perceptions on Altice USA, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$7.40 and the most bearish at US$1.00 per share. We would probably assign less value to the analyst forecasts in this situation, because such a wide range of estimates could imply that the future of this business is difficult to value accurately. As a result it might not be a great idea to make decisions based on the consensus price target, which is after all just an average of this wide range of estimates.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. Over the past five years, revenues have declined around 2.4% annually. Worse, forecasts are essentially predicting the decline to accelerate, with the estimate for an annualised 4.2% decline in revenue until the end of 2025. Compare this against analyst estimates for companies in the broader industry, which suggest that revenues (in aggregate) are expected to grow 2.7% annually. So while a broad number of companies are forecast to grow, unfortunately Altice USA is expected to see its revenue affected worse than other companies in the industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts reconfirmed their loss per share estimates for next year. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$2.95, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Altice USA going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here..

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 2 warning signs for Altice USA that you need to be mindful of.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.