Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Optimum Communications’ Q3 2026 earnings at ($0.17) EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at ($0.10) EPS, FY2026 earnings at ($0.56) EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at ($0.21) EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at ($0.17) EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at ($0.21) EPS, FY2027 earnings at ($0.82) EPS, Q1 2028 earnings at ($0.52) EPS, Q2 2028 earnings at ($0.30) EPS and FY2028 earnings at ($0.67) EPS.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Optimum Communications from $2.00 to $1.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Optimum Communications from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 26th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Optimum Communications from $2.00 to $1.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Optimum Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Optimum Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $1.50 to $0.50 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $0.92.

Optimum Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OPTU opened at $0.94 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.19. The firm has a market cap of $257.33 million, a P/E ratio of -0.09 and a beta of 1.25. Optimum Communications has a 52-week low of $0.58 and a 52-week high of $2.79.

Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.67) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.50). The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Optimum Communications will post -0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Neil S. Subin purchased 171,711 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $0.83 per share, with a total value of $142,520.13. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 19,548,909 shares in the company, valued at $16,225,594.47. This represents a 0.89% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought 3,032,354 shares of company stock valued at $2,455,613 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 43.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Optimum Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its holdings in Optimum Communications by 32.0% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 278,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 67,506 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 62.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 367,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 141,080 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of Optimum Communications in the first quarter worth $54,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 4.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,082,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 43,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP raised its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 23.7% in the first quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 1,230,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,600,000 after buying an additional 235,559 shares in the last quarter. 54.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Optimum Communications News

Here are the key news stories impacting Optimum Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Optimum’s expanded T-Mobile relationship strengthens its mobile and 5G offering, potentially improving customer retention and creating longer-term growth opportunities.
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research made a small upward revision to its FY2028 EPS forecast, to a loss of $0.67 from a projected loss of $0.70. However, the company is still expected to remain unprofitable through that year.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks lowered its EPS forecasts for FY2026 to a loss of $0.56 from $0.55 and for FY2027 to a loss of $0.82 from $0.72. It also reduced estimates for Q4 2026, Q2 2027, Q3 2027, Q4 2027, Q1 2028 and Q2 2028, indicating weaker expected profitability across much of the forecast period.
• Negative Sentiment: The revisions reinforce concerns about Optimum’s earnings outlook. The company previously reported a quarterly loss of $0.67 per share, substantially worse than the $0.17 analyst consensus, and its shares remain below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

About Optimum Communications

Altice USA, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband communications and video services in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It offers broadband, video, telephony, and mobile services to approximately five million residential and business customers. The company’s video services include delivery of broadcast stations and cable networks; over the top services; video-on-demand, high-definition channels, digital video recorder, and pay-per-view services; and platforms for video programming through mobile applications.