Altice, With Mobile Rollout Coming, Reaps Gains From Network Investments; Stock Up

Altice USA, reaping gains from network investments and other improvements, had its best Q1 in terms of video subscribers, with "just 10,000 net losses," CEO Dexter Goei told analysts Thursday. That was also more than some analysts said they had expected. Friday, the stock closed 6.8 percent higher at $24.50. Revenue grew in all business segments, with the highest-ever Q1 margin at 43.1 percent, and it would have been higher if not for some mobile and other costs, Goei said. "It is really cap ex light," said Chief Financial Officer Charlie Stewart said of the coming mobile product. Revenue grew 2.9 percent from the year-ago quarter to $2.4 billion, and the company has about 3.3 million video customers. Altice is "on track for a full commercial launch this summer" of wireless service, Goei said. Its partnership with Sprint led to 19,000 small cell rollouts in about a year, the "fastest rollout of its kind in the U.S.," he said. There are "major mobile handset partnerships" in place, the CEO said. "We are in a phase of heavy testing now." Altice doesn't expect wireless carriers to soon offer 5G targeted at residences where the company operates, he said. "We have seen no 5G fixed launches in our footprint." The ISP has been investing "in our own proprietary video set-top box and broadband router," better user interfaces and new features like voice control, Goei said. "We continue to see increased customer demand for higher broadband speeds and significantly growing data usage." Many customers use Netflix through their set-top, and many Altice subscribers are using voice control, he said: The average home the operator serves has about 12 connected devices. (See also page 7.) Earlier last week, Altice said it's buying Cheddar (see 1904300120).