(Bloomberg) — Charter Communications Inc. shares fell the most ever after the company reported “underwhelming” quarterly results.
One of the country’s largest home internet providers, Charter said it lost 117,000 residential customers at its flagship Spectrum internet brand in the first quarter, more than the 98,445 that analysts expected. The company also lost 51,000 cable TV customers, a dip that follows a surprise increase at the end of 2025 driven by an aggressive bundling strategy.
Revenue of $13.6 billion was essentially in line with estimates but earnings per share of $9.17 came up short of forecasts for $9.52.
“Overall this is an underwhelming print,” especially compared with Comcast Corp.’s results earlier this week, analysts at Vital Knowledge wrote in a note to investors.
The stock tumbled 23% to $186.12 Friday in New York. It was the biggest decline since shares were listed in 2009. That brings Charter’s losses for the year to 11%, compared with a 3.6% gain for rival Comcast.
Earlier this week, Comcast reported results that exceeded analysts’ estimates with fewer losses among broadband customers.
Charter’s mobile business, which is usually a bright spot for the company, also fell short of analysts’ expectations this quarter. Charter added 368,000 wireless lines through its partnership with Verizon Communications Inc., below the 438,734 Wall Street predicted.
“Competition for new customers remains high,” Charter Chief Executive Officer Chris Winfrey said on a call with investors. “Cable industry internet growth has been pressured for several years now, given new competition, a challenging housing environment, and other factors like mobile substitution. But we remain confident about our ability to win in the marketplace and grow over the longer term.”
Charter had been making progress stemming video cord cutting, but hadn’t registered a gain since the early days of the pandemic. The late 2025 cable increase came after the company began offering streaming services at no additional cost to cable-TV customers, as well as a seasonal lift in signups from National Football League fans. It was an uptick that Winfrey had warned wouldn’t last.
Charter is in the process of combining with Cox Communications and if that merger goes through, it will marry a business that has a viable video strategy with one that largely abandoned video as Cox focused on delivering home internet service to its 7 million customers. Analysts are increasingly eyeing Charter as a prime candidate for continued M&A as competition for broadband services heats up.
“As everybody knows, we like cable as an investment,” Winfrey said. “We’d like to acquire more cable assets if it can be done at an appropriate price conditions.”
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