If you are wrestling with whether to buy, sell, or simply hold onto Altice USA, you are not alone. The stock can feel a bit like a rollercoaster lately, especially with those recent price swings. Over just the past 7 days, Altice USA notched a gain of 5.9%, adding to the 11.6% bump in the last month. Zooming out a bit, year-to-date returns are up 5.5%, and over the last 12 months, shares gained 4.6%. If you have been invested longer term, though, those multi-year losses might still sting, with prices down 53.9% over the past 3 years and an even steeper 91.0% drop over 5 years. Clearly, the journey has not been smooth.

What is driving these rapid changes in sentiment? Some of it comes down to evolving expectations about the sector and…