Altice USA: accelerates share buybacks as cash flow soars

(CercleFinance.com) - Shares in Altice USA jumped over 6% in New York on Friday after the broadband communications and video services provider said that it met its guidance for 2018, and that it would step up its share buybacks.


Altice USA's revenue rose by 4% to 2.45 billion dollars in the fourth quarter, with advertising revenue up 33%.

Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA grew 7.8%, giving an EBITDA margin of 45.5% for the last three months of the year.

Its free cash flow rose by 27% to 1.35 billion dollars in 2018, resulting in a total shareholder return of 2 billion dollars last year, including 500 million dollars of share repurchases and 1.5 billion dollars in special cash dividends.

For 2019, Altice USA expects revenue growth of 2.5%-3% and share repurchases of 1.5 billion dollars.

This good news prompted Credit Suisse analysts to raise their estimates and their target price for the stock from 25 dollars to 26 dollars, while maintaining an "outperform" rating.

The Altice USA shares were up 6.6% at 22.4 dollars in early morning trading today.

Copyright (c) 2019 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.