Charter Shares Fall Most Ever After Disappointing Results
(Bloomberg) — Charter Communications Inc. Its shares suffered their steepest decline ever after the company reported “very impressive” quarterly results.
Charter, one of the nation’s largest home internet providers, said it lost 117,000 residential customers on its flagship Spectrum internet brand in the first quarter, more than the 98,445 analysts expected. The company also lost 51,000 cable TV customers; This decline follows a surprise increase at the end of 2025, driven by an aggressive bundling strategy.
Revenue of $13.6 billion was essentially in line with estimates, but earnings per share of $9.17 fell short of estimates of $9.52.
“Overall, this is underwhelming pressure, especially compared to Comcast Corp.’s results earlier this week,” analysts at Vital Knowledge wrote in a note to investors.
The stock fell 23% to $186.12 in New York on Friday. This was the biggest decline since the shares were listed in 2009. This brings Charter’s losses for the year to 11%, compared to rival Comcast’s gain of 3.6%.
Earlier this week, Comcast reported results that beat analysts’ estimates, with less churn among broadband customers.
Charter’s mobile business, usually a bright spot for the company, also fell short of analysts’ expectations this quarter. Charter, Verizon Communications Inc. It added 368,000 wireless lines, below Wall Street estimates of 438,734, thanks to its partnership with .
“Competition for new customers remains high,” Charter Chief Executive Chris Winfrey said on a call with investors. “Given new competition, a challenging housing environment and other factors such as mobile substitution, the cable industry’s internet growth has been under pressure for several years. But we remain confident in our ability to win in the market and grow over the long term.”
Charter had been making progress on cutting the video cord but had not seen an increase since the early days of the pandemic. The late 2025 cable boost comes after the company began offering streaming services to cable TV customers at no additional cost, as well as a seasonal increase in registrations from National Football League fans. It was a rise that Winfrey warned would not last long.
Charter is in the process of merging with Cox Communications, and if that merger goes through, it would marry a business with a viable video strategy and a business that has largely abandoned video at a time when Cox is focused on delivering home internet service to its 7 million customers. As competition for broadband services intensifies, analysts increasingly see Charter as a prime candidate for continued mergers and acquisitions.
“As everyone knows, we love cable as an investment,” Winfrey said. “We would like to acquire more wireline assets if it can be done under favorable price conditions.”
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