Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR)

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) stock declined by 16.51% due to the company's disappointing fourth-quarter earnings report, which indicates lower-than-expected results. Here are the details:

• Earnings Miss: Heading into the fourth quarter, analysts had projected that Charter would achieve earnings of $8.68 per share with sales reaching $13.7 billion. While Charter met the sales estimate, it significantly underperformed on earnings, reporting a profit of only $7.07 per share.
• Q4 Sales and Earnings: Charter reported a decrease of 61,000 customers in residential and small to medium-sized business internet services during the quarter. However, this decline was offset by the addition of 546,000 mobile phone customers. As a result, the company's sales remained relatively stable at $13.7 billion. The growth in mobile phone revenue was particularly noteworthy, experiencing a substantial 36% increase. Higher prices for internet services also contributed to mitigating customer losses, leading to a 3% rise in revenue in that segment.
• Full-Year Results: For the entire year, Charter's total revenue increased by 1%, reaching $56.4 billion in annual revenue. However, net income dropped by 10%, amounting to $4.6 billion, and free cash flow experienced a significant decline of 43%, totaling just $3.5 billion.

Shares of Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) dropped by 8.70% from $399.14 to $364.40 in the trading on Tuesday, December 5, 2023. The reason why CHTR is down today is due to comments from the company's CFO, Jessica Fischer, suggesting the possibility of losing broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter due to challenges in October and November, including a dispute with Disney and higher interest rates.

• Broadband Expansion Efforts: Charter has invested significantly in expanding its broadband coverage to rural and underserved areas, spending $1.1 billion on line extensions in the third quarter. However, these efforts face challenges amid a sluggish housing market affected by rising interest rates and low mortgage demand.
• Future Outlook: Despite current challenges, Fischer remains optimistic about Charter's subscriber growth, citing the potential for a housing market rebound and value-added video offerings, including a deal with Disney to include Disney+ in Spectrum plans. These strategies are expected to drive long-term competitiveness and subscriber growth.

Charter Communications Stock (CHTR) dropped by 9.65% from $411.71 to $372.00 in the trading on Friday October 27, 2023. The reason why CHTR stock down today include

• Mixed quarterly results. Charter reported Q3 revenue growth of 0.2% Y/Y to $13.58 billion, missing the consensus of $13.63 billion. Revenue decline of (0.3)% in Residential, 33.8% in Mobile, and 0.8% in Commercial drove the top line. Adjusted EBITDA margin was flat at 40%. EPS of $8.25 beat the consensus of $7.94.
• Fallout from the Disney dispute: The company estimated that the Disney fight was directly responsible for 100,000 video customers and 15,000 internet customers disconnecting their service during the quarter.
• Decrease in free cash flow: Third quarter free cash flow of $1.1 billion decreased from $1.5 billion in the prior year, primarily due to higher capital expenditures, driven mainly by Charter's network evolution and expansion initiatives.