What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the broader U.S. stock market declined amid investor caution and a pullback in technology stocks. 

The main story? Investors are cashing in on a good run and feeling a bit cautious. After a fantastic run, many of those high-flying AI and technology stocks saw investors take profits: selling shares to lock in their gains. This is often called a "market rotation." Money is moving out of the red-hot tech sector (which some worry has become too expensive) and into other parts of the market that investors may currently deem more stable or reasonably-priced. 

There's a secondary reason for the cautious mood: The long government shutdown came to an end. Though it's typically interpreted as good news, it also means a flood of delayed economic reports will be released. For weeks, investors were "flying blind" without key updates on the economy's health, like inflation data and the jobs report. In typical "sell the news" fashion, investors may also be taking profits and selling in anticipation that the new data would potentially give the Federal Reserve reasons to slow or even pause future rate cuts.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Wireless, Cable and Satellite company Altice (NYSE: ATUS) fell 4.1%. Is now the time to buy Altice? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Casino Operator company PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) fell 2.7%. Is now the time to buy PENN Entertainment? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Travel and Vacation Providers company Sabre (NASDAQ: SABR) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Sabre? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Toys and Electronics company Bark (NYSE: BARK) fell 3.6%. Is now the time to buy Bark? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.

Zooming In On Altice (ATUS)

Altice’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 42 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 7 days ago when the stock dropped 5.5% on the news that the company reported disappointing third-quarter 2025 financial results that fell short of analyst expectations on both revenue and earnings. 

Total revenue for the quarter was $2.11 billion, a 5.4% decrease from the same period last year and slightly below forecasts. The company posted a GAAP loss per share of $3.47, a significant downturn from a loss of $0.09 in the prior year's quarter and substantially worse than the consensus estimate of a $0.05 loss. Operationally, Altice USA continued to face challenges, with its broadband subscriber count falling by 167,300 year-over-year. This weak performance also hit its cash generation, as free cash flow was a negative $178.1 million, a sharp reversal from a positive $76.87 million in the same quarter of the previous year.

Altice is down 20.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $1.89 per share, it is trading 39.4% below its 52-week high of $3.11 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Altice’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $61.50.

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