Altice USA Inc. ATUS subsidiary Optimum has reached a milestone of 100% fiber connectivity across 500,000 residential customers. The unique feat was achieved on the back of significant investments to expand its fiber network footprint across its service areas. These include a $40 million investment in Long Island this year and a multi-million-dollar infrastructure upgrade in the Northeast markets over the last several years.
Altice has also forayed into new markets to strengthen its regional presence. The company has expanded in markets like Montclair and West Orange, NJ, to bring Optimum Fiber services to key communities, while solidifying its fiber network presence across the broader New York tri-state region.
The company remains on track with its five-year plan to build a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network and deploy its home communications hub. It believes that the FTTH network will be more resilient with reduced maintenance requirements and lower power usage. Altice is building a fiber network to deliver broadband speeds of up to 10 Gbps, which underscores its investment in technology.
ATUS Focusing on Inorganic Growth
Altice subsidiary Lightpath is also set to significantly boost its fiber network capabilities through the proposed acquisition of United Fiber and Data (“UFD”). UFD operates a 323-route mile high-fiber network stretching from New York City to Ashburn, VA, a critical link between the largest U.S. population center and the world's leading data center hub. Additionally, UFD’s 79-route mile metro network in New York City and New Jersey connects more than 350 enterprise and data center locations. This includes a high-fiber crossing of the Hudson River, enhancing Lightpath's existing infrastructure.
UFD’s vast geographical network complements Lightpath's current infrastructure, expanding its network to more than 20,000 route miles and enhancing its connectivity with over 140 data centers and seven cable landing stations. This will allow Lightpath to offer more regionally diverse, high-capacity services across the East Coast, particularly benefiting high-demand areas like Manhattan and the Ashburn data ecosystem.
With the acquisition, Lightpath will significantly increase its enterprise and data center coverage in Manhattan. Altice’s connectivity solutions stand to witness robust enhancement through Lightpath’s acquisition of UFD. The buyout not only expands Lightpath's fiber network footprint and technological capabilities but also reinforces its position in high-growth markets, promising substantial benefits for both companies and their customers.
ATUS Stock to Reap the Benefits?
Altice is focused on expanding its network for increased market penetration and fiber network upgrades for long-term sustainable growth. It plans to bring 100% fiber broadband to more than two-thirds of its footprint over the next few years to reach a total of 6.5 million FTTH passings by the end of 2025. Strategic acquisitions allow Altice to benefit from greater scale and operating efficiency while expanding its fiber footprint.
This expanded service capability is expected to attract more customers and increase market share. This, in turn, is likely to translate into incremental revenues and boost the stock.
Zacks Rank
Altice carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Other Players Operating in the Space
Arista Networks, Inc. ANET, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present, is likely to benefit from strong momentum and diversification across its top verticals and product lines. The company has a software-driven, data-centric approach to help customers build their cloud architecture and enhance their cloud experience. Arista has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 16% and delivered an earnings surprise of 14.8%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.
It holds a leadership position in 100-gigabit Ethernet switching share in port for the high-speed data center segment. Arista is increasingly gaining market traction in 200 and 400-gig high-performance switching products and remains well-positioned for healthy growth in data-driven cloud networking business with proactive platforms and predictive operations.
NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, currently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1, is another key pick in the broader industry. It is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit or GPU. Over the years, the company’s focus has evolved from PC graphics to AI-based solutions that now support high-performance computing, gaming and virtual reality platforms.
The company’s GPU platforms are playing major roles in developing multi-billion-dollar end-markets like robotics and self-driving vehicles. NVIDIA has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 35.7% and delivered an earnings surprise of 9.8%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.
Workday Inc. WDAY, carrying a Zacks Rank #2, has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 21% and delivered an earnings surprise of 9.1%, on average, in the trailing four quarters. It is a leading provider of enterprise-level software solutions for financial management and human resource domains.
Workday’s cloud-based business model and expanding product portfolio have been the primary growth drivers. Moreover, the growing clout of Workday Prism Analytics and Adaptive Insights business planning cloud offerings holds promise.
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