CHTR

Charter is a heavily levered broadband and mobile operator priced like a melting ice cube — and it is partly that, but the valuation overcompensates. FY2025 revenue slipped 0.6% to $54.8B and net income eased 1.9% to $4.99B, yet diluted EPS still rose 3.5% to $36.21 because the company is aggressively retiring stock: buybacks surged 323.1% to $5.13B, cutting weighted diluted shares from 145.4M to 137.7M. At $126.23 the stock trades at just 3.5x earnings and 0.3x sales, while generating $16.1B of operating cash flow (+11.4%) and earning a 31.1% return on equity.

The operating story is a transition. The MD&A shows the legacy bundle eroding — residential video customers fell 255,000 and video revenue dropped 9.4% (-$1.43B), voice fell 6.0%, and advertising sank 17.6% on lower political revenue. Crucially, residential Internet customers also declined by 393,000, so the core broadband subscriber base is shrinking; internet revenue grew only 1.7%, propped up by rate and product-mix increases of $785M. The offset is mobile: lines grew 1.8 million and mobile service revenue jumped 22.0% to $3.76B, lifting connectivity revenue 4.1%. The bet is that convergence (broadband + mobile) stabilizes the customer base while pricing carries revenue.