CHTRNASDAQThe short version
Charter Communications, Inc.
Charter sells Spectrum broadband, mobile, video and voice to about 32 million customers across 41 states, turning $54.8 billion of revenue into $5 billion of free cash flow against roughly $94 billion of debt.
From a September 2021 high above $800, the shares have fallen 84% to $129, with roughly two-thirds of that decline coming since May 2025.
Mkt cap $30.3BNet debt $93.9BEV $124.2BP/E FY27E 2.9×ND/EBITDA FY27E 4.3×
$129.22
Share price (22 Jul)
$54.8B
FY2025 revenue
29.7M
Internet customers
11.8M
Mobile lines
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Snapshot
Charter Communications, Inc. in numbers
Price
$129.22as of 2026-07-22
Mkt cap
$30.3B
Net debt
$93.9B
EV
$124.2B
12m perf
−67.4%
3m ADV
$469.4M
| Year to Dec (USD) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026E | 2027E | 2028E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 54.6B | 55.1B | 54.8B | 54.3B | 53.7B | 53.7B |
| EBITDA | 21.3B | 21.8B | 21.6B | 22.2B | 21.9B | 21.8B |
| EBIT | 12.6B | 13.1B | 12.9B | 12.9B | 12.5B | 12.3B |
| EBIT margin | 23.0% | 23.8% | 23.6% | 23.9% | 23.2% | 22.9% |
| EPS | 29.99 | 34.97 | 36.21 | 41.74 | 44.11 | 48.47 |
| EV/EBITDA | 5.8× | 5.7× | 5.7× | 5.6× | 5.7× | 5.7× |
| EV/EBIT | 9.9× | 9.5× | 9.6× | 9.6× | 10.0× | 10.1× |
| P/E | 4.3× | 3.7× | 3.6× | 3.1× | 2.9× | 2.7× |
| FCF yield | 10.9% | 10.4% | 14.6% | 15.5% | 20.0% | 24.7% |
| Gearing | 875.6% | 599.7% | 587.3% | – | – | – |
Consensus: S&P Capital IQ (CapIQ) · as of 2026-08-01Derived from run data; ratios use the latest price.
IThe business
The business
Charter sells Spectrum connectivity to 32 million customers, and two lines carry it
FY2025 revenue by service line
Internet$23.8B43%
Video$13.7B25%
Commercial$7.3B13%
Mobile service$3.8B7%
Other$6.3B11%
Internet and video together are two-thirds of revenue.
- Internet is the engine. At $23.8 billion it is 43% of revenue and the largest single input to the cash that services the debt; each 1% of residential Internet revenue is about $238 million a year.
- Mobile is the fast line. Mobile service revenue grew 22% to $3.8 billion, but it rides on another carrier's network and is still only 7% of the total.
- Video is fading. Down 9.4% to $13.7 billion, part of that a reclassification of streaming costs rather than lost customers.
Capital structure
The business is financed with far more debt than equity
Debt principal maturities at end-2025 ($B)
Only $1.1 billion falls due in 2026; $63.5 billion sits beyond 2030.
- $94.6 billion of debt. Against listed equity worth about $15.8 billion, the equity is roughly one-seventh of an $111 billion enterprise value.
- Cash is the only floor. $22.7 billion of EBITDA converts to about $5.0 billion of free cash flow — capital spending and interest absorb roughly 73 cents of every EBITDA dollar.
- The pressure is price, not date. The fixed-rate book of $82.7 billion averages a 5.07% coupon; recent new issues price above 7%, and leverage sits at 4.15x.
Ownership
A controlled company, with a pay plan that once paid out at triple today's price
Largest holders (FY2025)
| Holder | Stake |
|---|---|
| Liberty Broadband | 29.07% |
| Advance/Newhouse | 13.21% |
| Dodge & Cox | 10.34% |
| All directors & officers | 1.10% |
Two long-standing partners hold effective control of the vote.
- Concentrated hands. Liberty Broadband and Advance/Newhouse together steer the company through board seats and a governance agreement; direct insider ownership by officers is only 1.10%.
- Pay geared to a higher stock. CEO Chris Winfrey's 2023 performance award set an $85.0 million target that vests around a $564 share price — against a stock near $129 today — and a Dec 2025 renewal raised his guaranteed pay.
- The ratio. Winfrey's total pay ran about 82 times the median employee's, a gap that widened as the shares fell.
IIThe record
The record
Revenue has been flat for four years; cost discipline did the profit work
Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA ($B)
Revenue within a $1.1bn band since 2022; EBITDA ground higher on cost.
- Four flat years. Revenue moved within a $1.1 billion band — $54.0 billion in 2022 to $54.8 billion in 2025, a 0.6% decline last year.
- Profit ground higher. Adjusted EBITDA rose from $21.6 billion to $22.7 billion on cost discipline, not growth.
- EPS flattered by buybacks. Diluted earnings per share climbed from $24.47 to $36.21 since 2021 while net income barely moved, as the share count shrank.
Capital returns
The cash the business generated went to buybacks, not debt reduction
Free cash flow vs share buybacks ($B)
In 2025 buybacks ($5.1bn) slightly exceeded free cash flow ($5.0bn).
- $78.8 billion repurchased. Since 2016 Charter bought back about 179.7 million shares and units at an average near $438 — the whole listed equity is now worth about $15.8 billion.
- Debt stayed put. In 2025 buybacks slightly topped free cash flow, and borrowings roughly matched repayments, leaving debt principal flat.
- Deleveraging by arithmetic. What leverage reduction there has been came from EBITDA inching up against a stable debt balance, not from paying debt down.
IIIThe story now
What's happening
The equity has fallen 84% from its 2021 peak, most of it since May 2025
From a September 2021 high above $800 to $129.22 on 22 July 2026.
- A five-year slide. The shares peaked at $821 in September 2021 and closed at $129.22 on 22 July 2026, falling in five of the last six calendar years.
- The steepest day. First-quarter results on 24 April 2026 took the stock from $242 to $180 in a session, with a further slide over the following three months.
- Operating base steady, equity not. The business is stable; the equity is a thin residual on $94 billion of debt, so it moves far more.
Broadband base
The connectivity cushion is a firmer signal of revenue than of profit
Residential Internet net additions (000s)
Broadband customers have fallen every year since 2023.
- Rate stopped covering volume. Rate and mix added $785 million to residential Internet revenue in 2025 but only $9 million in the first quarter of 2026 against $87 million of volume loss, tipping residential Internet revenue to a 1.3% decline,
- while the mobile line that offsets it grew on volume (+$714 million) and lost rate (-$35 million) at roughly $30 per line per month — a margin Charter has not disclosed since 2022, when Spectrum Mobile's $3,042 million of revenue sat against $3,385 million of direct cost, a $343 million deficit.
- The other side. Mobile service revenue rose 15.1% and total connectivity revenue still grew 0.9% in the first quarter of 2026, with management citing materially lower broadband churn where a mobile line is attached.
Cash conversion
Ending capex frees billions, but taxes and repricing take part of it back
Capital expenditure, actual and guided ($B)
Management guides run-rate capex below $8bn once the build ends by 2028.
- The gross versus the net. Charter's guided capex fall from about $11.7 billion in 2025 toward a sub-$8 billion run-rate frees roughly $3.7-3.9 billion of gross annual free cash flow while only about $31 billion of the $94.6 billion debt stack — a third, 87% of it fixed at 5.07% — matures through 2030, so repricing that tranche adds only about $0.6 billion of interest;
- but the 2025 free-cash-flow gain leaned on a $669 million cash-tax decrease from restored 100% bonus depreciation, a shield that shrinks as the capital budget itself falls, so cash taxes normalise upward against the capex benefit.
- The other side. Capex relief still clearly outweighs the repricing through 2030 — roughly six times the incremental interest — so the direction of free cash flow is up.
Cox combination
Cox enlarges the base and the debt claim on it at the same time
What Cox adds, and the claims against it
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Revenue added | ~$13B |
| Adjusted EBITDA added | ~$5B |
| Assumed net debt | ~$12.4B |
| Pro-forma 2024 EPS | $34.97 to $31.18 |
| Cox revenue trend | -4.2% (9M 2025) |
Cox Enterprises would hold about 25.1% of the combined company.
- Bigger and more levered. About $5 billion of EBITDA and $13 billion of revenue arrive with roughly $12.4 billion of assumed net debt and a $6.0 billion preferred paying 6.875%.
- Per-share, close to a wash. On Charter's own pre-synergy pro forma the deal trims 2024 diluted earnings per Charter share from $34.97 to $31.18, even as combined net income grows.
- A faster-shrinking asset. Cox revenue fell 4.2% in the first nine months of 2025, with a $5-6 billion franchise impairment tied to competition; at least $800 million of synergies is the offset.
IVThe price
Valuation
A cheap enterprise multiple, a high equity yield, and the leverage behind both
4.9x
EV / Adjusted EBITDA
~32%
Equity free cash flow yield
-84%
From Sept 2021 peak
~4.5x
EBITDA / net interest
At the 22 July 2026 close of $129.22.
- Cheap, not distressed. The enterprise trades near 4.9 times the $22.7 billion of 2025 Adjusted EBITDA; reported free cash flow of $5.0 billion on a ~$15.8 billion market cap is about a 32% equity yield, rising above 35% only on the normalised post-2028 base.
- No asset floor beneath it. Goodwill alone exceeds the $16.1 billion of book equity, which is entirely intangible — the equity's worth rests on franchise cash flows, not on assets a wind-down could sell.
- Near-term default risk is low. EBITDA covers net interest about 4.5 times, 87% of debt is fixed at 5.07%, and only about $1.1 billion matures in 2026 — but a 5% EBITDA slip is about a third of the equity.
Scenarios
Three paths for 2028 free cash flow, each still cash-generative
Illustrative 2028 free cash flow
| Scenario | 2028 EBITDA | 2028 FCF | Equity yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bear | $21.0B | $5.0B | 32% |
| Base | $22.5B | $6.7B | 42% |
| Bull | $24.0B | $8.0B | 51% |
Illustrative, on management's 2028 capex guidance; not a forecast.
- Capex relief carries them. Even the bear path — EBITDA sliding to $21 billion, cash taxes normalising toward $2 billion — leaves free cash flow near its 2025 level, because the falling capital budget offsets the drag.
- The question is durability. None of the paths assume the base stabilises; if EBITDA merely holds and capex lands at guidance, free cash flow steps toward $7 billion.
- Debt is the counterweight. Management targets leverage in the low-3.5s and up to half a turn of reduction a year — the deleveraging the equity needs, if the base cooperates.
Positioning
The street is split, its mean target well above today's price
Sell-side mean target vs price
22 Jul close
$129
Mean target
$210
Ratings split 5 buy, 11 hold, 5 sell — an unusually wide spread.
- A wide spread. The mean target of $209.94 sits about 62% above the $129.22 close, with ratings split 0 strong-buy, 5 buy, 11 hold and 5 sell — what a genuinely two-sided setup looks like.
- Surprise runs through the base. Charter has missed consensus in four of its last six quarters, and the reactions have been large — about a quarter wiped off on the 24 April 2026 print.
- Underwriting management's word. Owning the equity means backing the broadband base until the internet net-add line proves it; the falling capex buys the time, the leverage sets the penalty.
What to watch
Ending capex could re-rate a cheap, highly-levered equity — if the shrinking broadband base first steadies.
- 01Residential internet net adds inflecting from about -120,000 a quarter toward flat
- 022027-2028 capital expenditure actually stepping down toward $7.5-8.0 billion
- 03Cash taxes rising from ~$0.5-0.8 billion toward $2 billion as bonus depreciation unwinds
- 04New-issue coupons above 7% against the 5.07% stack, and net debt trending toward the low-3.5s
This distills a guided study of Charter built chapter by chapter — the business, its record, what is happening now, and what the market asks you to pay.
Compiled from the full report · 2026-08-01 · For information, not investment advice.