Cable & Wireline 2Q26E preview: Increased focus on ARPU given recent retention pricing

Research evidence excerpt

Cable & Wireline 2Q26E preview: Increased focus on ARPU given recent retention pricing

Goldman Sachs Americas Telecom Services

mn due to lower expected network operations expenses as Cogent captures

cost-savings related to its Sprint assets. Key investor debates into the quarter include:

(1) focus on top-line revenue growth; (2) estimated timeline to monetize remaining data

center assets (14 still up for sale); (3) commentary on hyperscaler demand for AI

infrastructure and updates on elongated data center development timelines.

We also reduce our near-term FCF estimates at VZ to reflect recent announcements, but

maintain our adjusted EBITDA expectations (note).

Charter Communications (CHTR, Sell): Broadband business remains under pressure

Setup into the print: We believe CHTR will continue to face persistent competitive

headwinds in its core broadband business, with investors increasingly focused on

satellite broadband competition in the rural segment. We think Charter will need to

provide greater visibility into its flat yoy residential broadband ARPU guidance (with the

street still forecasting ARPU growth in 2027 and 2028) given sustained subscriber losses

and unfavorable front-book pricing for the shares to stabilize. Charter’s multi-year

network evolution (expected to be 50% complete by YE26, 100% by YE27) and

innovation in video could support lower churn; however, we remain sidelined until the

benefits of these investments manifest more clearly in the consolidated results.

Key numbers: We forecast 2Q26E EBITDA of $5.55 bn (v. Visible Alpha consensus of

$5.61 bn) with total revenue of $13.46 bn (v. consensus of $13.54 bn) inclusive of

residential revenue of $10.42 bn (v. consensus of $10.44 bn). We also expect residential