What Happened?
Shares of cable, internet, and telephone services provider Charter (NASDAQ:CHTR) fell 17.2% in the afternoon session after the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations and a larger-than-anticipated loss of internet subscribers.
The telecommunications company reported earnings of $9.18 per share, falling short of analyst expectations that were closer to $9.80. A major point of concern for investors was the company's loss of 111,000 residential internet customers, a steeper decline than the 73,250 losses analysts had anticipated. The weak results were compounded by a 19.3% year-over-year decrease in free cash flow, which landed at $1.0 billion for the quarter. While the company did manage to add 500,000 mobile lines, this positive development was not enough to offset the broader weakness in its core internet and video businesses, the latter of which also saw customer losses.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Charter’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 8 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Charter and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 12 months ago when the stock gained 17.6% on the news that the company reported strong second-quarter results. Charter beat analysts' total internet customers and adjusted EBITDA expectations. Free cash flow also improved significantly (came in at $1.3B) and was above analysts' estimates. Overall, this was a really good quarter that should please shareholders.
Charter is down 11% since the beginning of the year, and at $310.98 per share, it is trading 27.2% below its 52-week high of $427.25 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Charter’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $555.41.
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