Xavier Niel is eyeing Altice's Portugal segment
Altice USA Inc (NYSE:ATUS) stock is soaring today, extending yesterday's 11.7% pop, after a report from Bloomberg that billionaire Xavier Niel has expressed interest in buying the company's Portuguese operations. On track for its fifth-straight day of gains, ATUS was up 14.4% to trade at $3.49.
Today's pop has the stock running up to its 320-day moving average, which the stock hasn't closed above since August 2021. Since the start of the year, the equity has shed 25.9%.
Over in the options pits, 3,083 calls and 1,234 puts have been exchanged so far, which is seven times the amount typically seen at this point. The March 2.50 call is the most popular, with new positions being sold to open there.
It's also worth noting that short interest represents 6.2% of the stock's available float. It would take shorts over seven days to cover their bearish bets, at ATUS' average pace of daily trading.