Communication Services
18/100
18/100Is CHTR-Charter Communications, a buy?
Saturday 27 June 2026
Why now: It is not a good “why now” today: the provided live technical snapshot has no confirmed reclaim or breakout condition, which usually means the market is not rewarding the story. The only near-term argument is that valuation has already compressed a lot, but that is not enough without a clear operating or tape turn.
Upside: If subscriber trends stabilize and the market re-rates the stock closer to peer and historical cash-flow multiples, upside could be large from current depressed levels (potentially 40% to 70%). This upside is speculative until the core broadband business stops shrinking.
Risks: The biggest risk is continued net losses in internet customers, which would keep revenue under pressure and prolong the negative narrative. A second major risk is the high debt load in a still-high-rate world, which limits flexibility if conditions worsen.
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Scorecard
Read:Strong metricsSolid metricsSelectiveCautionUnfavourableN/A
| Scorecard | 18/100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Company Detail | CHTR, Charter Communications, Inc. | |
| Price as at 26 June 2026 | $133.64 | |
| Market cap | $20.9B | |
| Quality and Fundamental Score (100) | ||
| Breakout / Early-Momentum /20 | 0/20 | |
| Rev/EPS Momentum /20 | 4/20 | |
| Business Quality /15 | 6/15 | |
| Balance Sheet /15 | 2/15 | |
| Valuation /10 | 5/10 | |
| Industry Relative Strength /10 | 0/10 | |
| Macro / Sector Tailwind /10 | 1/10 | |
| Growth | ||
| Cash runway | Cash generative | |
| Revenue YoY | -0.6% | |
| EPS YoY | +3.5% | |
| FCF YoY | +39.8% | |
| Gross margin | 56.5% | |
| Valuation & Trend | ||
| Trailing P/E | 3.6x | |
| Forward P/E | 3.0x | |
| RSI (14d) | 43 | |
| vs 50d SMA | -14.9% | |
| Support cushion | −5.2% | |
| Sentiment | ||
| Wall Street verdict | Mixed | |
| News tone | Quiet | |
| Dividend | — | |
How are these colored?
| Metric | Strong metrics | Solid metrics | Selective | Caution | Unfavourable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall score | ≥ 80 | 70-79 | 60-69 | 50-59 | < 50 |
| Business quality /15 | ≥ 12 | 10-11 | 8-9 | 6-7 | < 6 |
| Balance sheet /15 | ≥ 12 | 10-11 | 8-9 | 6-7 | < 6 |
| Market cap | ≥ $20B | $5B-$20B | $2B-$5B | $1B-$2B | < $1B |
| Cash runway | ≥ 3 yr or cash generative | 1.5-3 yr | 0.75-1.5 yr | 0.25-0.75 yr | < 0.25 yr |
| Revenue YoY | ≥ 15% | 5-15% | 0-5% | -5-0% | < -5% |
| EPS YoY | ≥ 20% | 5-20% | 0-5% | -5-0% | < -5% |
| FCF YoY | ≥ 10% | 1-10% | 0-1% | -5-0% | < -5% |
| Gross margin | ≥ 60% | 40-60% | 25-40% | 10-25% | < 10% |
| Trailing P/E | < 15 | 15-25 | 25-35 | 35-40 | > 40 or neg |
| Forward P/E | < 15 | 15-25 | 25-35 | 35-40 | > 40 or neg |
| RSI (14d) | 50-70 | 45-50 or 70-75 | 40-45 or 75-78 | 30-40 or 78-80 | < 30 or > 80 |
| vs 50d SMA | +2% to +15% | 0-2% or 15-25% | -2-0% or 25-35% | -3, 2% or 35-40% | < -3% or > 40% |
| Support cushion | 2-10% above | 0-2% | 10-15% | 15-20% | price below support |
| Wall Street verdict | Aligned | — | Mixed | — | Disagrees |
| News tone | Positive | — | Neutral / Mixed | — | Negative |
| Dividend | Yield ≥ 2% & growing | Growing | Flat payer ≥ 1% | Low / flat | Cutting |
Detailed Analysis, Saturday 27 June 2026
What they do
Charter Communications, Inc. provides broadband internet, mobile service, video, and voice to residential and business customers in the United States under the Spectrum brand. It makes money mainly from monthly subscriptions and equipment-related fees, and it also sells advertising and other services.
Leadership
Chris WinfreyCEO
Chris Winfrey has been Chief Executive Officer since December 2022.
Jessica FischerCFO
Jessica Fischer is Charter Communications' Chief Financial Officer.
Summary thesis
- Charter is a scaled US connectivity business with strong cash generation and a growing mobile line base, but it is fighting a real demand and competition problem in its core broadband product.
- The company can buy back stock and manage costs, yet the investment case depends on stabilizing internet subscribers and proving that network upgrades can re-accelerate growth.
- With the chart and the fundamentals both still under pressure, this is not a clean long-term own today.
Wall Street alignment
Wall Street: Mixed signals (1 pos / 1 neg)
Analyst consensus
Hold (2.90, 17 analysts) · +79% upside
Institutional ownership
85% institutions, insiders 34.4%
Short interest
46.2% of float short · 7.4 d-to-cover
Smart money tape
-1 net (acc 0 / dist 1, last 26d)
Recent news
News Quiet · last 7d
Show 3 headlines from the last 7d
2026-06-27Product·
Reuters reported that Bloomberg said SpaceX and Charter had executive-level talks about partnering on a consumer mobile phone offering in the United States. If it becomes real, it could change Charter’s wireless strategy, but it is only exploratory talks at this stage.
2026-06-25Analyst·
UBS reiterated Neutral rating on Charter Communications with a 235 dollar price target ↗ · Investing.com
UBS kept its Neutral rating and maintained a 235 dollar price target on Charter Communications. This is not a new fundamental catalyst, but it signals no change in UBS’s stance on the risk and reward balance.
2026-06-22Filing·
Charter filed an annual report for its employee benefit plan. This is a routine filing and does not change the company’s operating outlook or capital allocation story.
Dividends
Pays no regular dividend.
Technicals
Price
$133.64
RSI (14d)
42.5
50d SMA
$157.06
200d SMA
$208.34
vs 50d SMA
-14.9%
vs 200d SMA
-35.9%
Support (swing low)
$126.70 −5.2%
Next swing high (swing high)
$147.85 +10.6%
Close as of 2026-06-26.
Score breakdown
Scores 18 out of 100, a mixed overall grade. Valuation was fair but not a standout driver. Business quality and earnings trend weighed on the total. CHTR fails the technical eligibility gates in the provided live universe snapshot (no rising 200-day, no reclaim, no breakout state), so it cannot be treated as a timely long-term add today even if valuation looks optically cheap.
Component scores are on the scorecard above.
Momentum evidence
- The live universe technicals provided are effectively blank and explicitly show no pre-breakout flag, no rising 200-day trend, and no confirmed reclaim of key moving averages.
- That is consistent with a stock that is not in an accumulation phase right now, so any “cheap valuation” argument lacks confirmation from price action.
Fundamental evidence
- Recent results show a business under top-line pressure: Charter reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of about $13.6 billion, down year over year, with net income attributable to shareholders of about $1.16 billion.
- Free cash flow was about $1.37 billion in the quarter, helped by the model’s strong cash conversion even in a weak growth period.
- The red flag is leverage: total debt was about $94.3 billion as of March 31, 2026, and the company reported net debt to last-twelve-month adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of about 4.15 times.
- Operationally, the mix is also a concern: reports indicate mobile lines grew (roughly 368,000 net adds in the quarter), but internet customers declined (roughly 120,000 net losses), which keeps the core growth debate front and center.
Cash runway: Cash generative (latest annual free cash flow is positive).
Valuation view
On common screening measures, Charter looks inexpensive versus its own history and versus many large telecom and cable peers on enterprise-value-to-operating-cash-flow style multiples. Several public data sources put its enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization around the mid‑5 times area in late June 2026, below long-run levels, but low multiples can also reflect structural worry about broadband growth and leverage.
Macro tailwind
There is no clear macro tailwind today: higher-for-longer borrowing costs make heavy debt less comfortable, and consumer connectivity demand is steady but competitive intensity is rising.
What to watch
Upcoming (1-6 months)
- Next quarterly earnings update and guidance commentary on internet subscriber trends and network upgrade progress (next earnings expected in late July 2026).
Ongoing
- Quarterly net adds or losses for internet customers and mobile lines, plus free cash flow stability versus elevated capital spending needs.
Long-term case
Over a multi-year view, the bull case is that Charter’s scale, upgraded network, and bundling with mobile can stabilize broadband relationships and lift cash flow per customer, allowing continued buybacks. The bear case is that fixed wireless and fiber keep taking share, forcing more spending and pricing concessions that cap returns. Until the core internet business clearly stabilizes, the long-term case is not strong enough to call this a dependable hold.
Risks & invalidation
Risks
- Competitive pressure (fixed wireless and fiber) keeps internet customer losses going, preventing a revenue and cash flow inflection.
Breaks the thesis
- If the stock remains unable to reclaim and hold above its 200-day moving average for multiple weeks while customer trends are still deteriorating, the “value rebound” thesis is invalid and ownership is not justified.
Bottom line
Do not buy this stock as a long-term holding today. The business is still shrinking in its core internet product and carries heavy debt, and the current price action in the provided live technical snapshot offers no sign that investors are re-rating the story. This can become interesting if internet customer losses clearly slow and the stock rebuilds a healthy uptrend, but it is not worth owning until those conditions show up.