Charter Communications: Higher expenses drive EBITDA miss

Research evidence excerpt

Charter Communications: Higher expenses drive EBITDA miss

Accessible version

Charter Communications

Higher expenses drive EBITDA miss

Maintain Rating: BUY | PO: 200.00 USD | Price: 126.50 USD

2Q: broadband and EBITDA miss 24 July 2026

Charter’s 2Q results were characterized by a higher net loss of 172k total broadband Equity

subscribers (vs. -158 estimate) and a net gain of 406k (vs. 415k est.) mobile subs.

Jessica Reif Ehrlich

Financially, reported EBITDA was below our estimates (as was EBITDA ex-transaction Research Analyst

costs), while revenue was higher, though broadband revenue was below forecast as BofAS +1 646 855 2921

ARPU decline of 1.5% was below our -1% estimate. Charter EBITDA declined 4.3% and jessica.reif@bofa.com

3.2% ex-transaction costs, lower than our -2.8% estimate as the slightly higher than Peter Henderson

forecast revenue was more than offset by higher non-programming expenses. FCF of Research Analyst BofAS

$969bn was slightly below our estimate of $980m, partially due to higher than forecast +1 646 855 4564

capex of $2.87bn (vs. $2.79bn est.). For standalone Charter, the company still expects peter2.henderson@bofa.com

capex for 2026 to be $11.4bn (vs. our $11.4bn est.) with capex falling to ~$9.5bn in

2027 and $7.5bn-$8bn 2028/2029.

EBITDA miss due to higher expenses Stock Data

CHTR’s 2Q revenue decreased 1.7% (vs. -2.2% est.), and EBITDA declined 4.3% and 3.2% Price 126.50 USD

ex-transaction expenses (vs. -2.8% est.). Programming expense declined 9.7%, vs. our Price Objective 200.00 USD

estimate of a 10% decline, while non-programming expenses grew 4% (vs. +1.5% est.) in Date Established 1-Jul-2026

the quarter. EBITDA margin was 40.3% vs. 41.1% est (41.4% in the prior year period and Investment Opinion C-1-9

40.8% ex-transaction costs).