Charter Communications, Inc. CHTR
Charter remains an optically cheap but fundamentally mixed story following the August 20, 2026 close of its $34.5B Cox merger, which adds integration risk on top of an already heavy $97.1B debt load as of FY2025 and a core business that saw revenue decline 0.56% YoY and net income fall 1.89% in FY2025. The stock trades at 3.9x earnings and 5.8x EV/EBITDA—roughly 75% and 42% below peer medians—but that discount reflects real deterioration, and the shares at $152.44 still sit 17% below the 200-day MA of $183.24.
Encouraging signals include a detected insider cluster buy (~$3.8M from four insiders in April–May 2026), CEO Winfrey's $44.4M option exercise on August 20, and a smart money score that turned slightly positive at 0.0219 as of Q2 2026 after being negative for three straight quarters, but none of this yet offsets the need for post-merger operating proof. The right stance is to wait for Cox integration metrics and subscriber trends before committing.
What could go wrong
- Cox integration drag. The $34.5B Cox merger closed August 20, 2026 amid market fears it could add to subscriber issues; integration costs and customer churn could pressure already-declining revenue.
- Debt burden. Total debt stood at $97.1B as of FY2025, supplemented by a new $4.75B senior secured notes offering in August 2026; rising interest costs could compress free cash flow.
- Core business erosion. FY2025 revenue declined 0.56% YoY to $54.77B and net income fell 1.89%, signaling competitive pressure from fiber and fixed-wireless alternatives.
- Technical downtrend. Stock at $152.44 remains well below its 200-day MA of $183.24, with a negative MACD histogram of -0.43, indicating the broader trend has not reversed.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: Forbes / PRNewsWire, 2026-08-20 · FMP annual fundamentals, FY2025 · derived_metrics, FY2025 · peer_relative, as of 2026-08-31. Orin's read on CHTR; not advice.
Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-23 · actual filings
50-day average 200-day average · volume below
On file
All CHTR filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| State Street | $991.4M | 0.0% of fund |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $759.7M | 0.0% of fund |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $501.3M | 0.0% of fund |
| Goldman Sachs Group | $396.4M | 0.0% of fund |
| Invesco | $394.9M | 0.0% of fund |
| Norges Bank | $348.8M | 0.0% of fund |
96 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 151 Form 4 filings, net −$1.7B. Of the 50 on hand, 5 were open-market purchases and 0 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about CHTR
Orin answers questions about CHTR from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →Where it trades
| Metric | Now | Own median | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 3.0× | 10.8× | 26.3× |
| EV/EBITDA | 5.6× | 7.3× | — |
| P/S | 0.29× | 1.01× | — |
| P/B | 0.8× | 5.2× | — |
Its P/E sits below all 5 of the last 5 years (−1.46σ from its own mean).
-17.7%
free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $4.4B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.
What Wall Street published
$166
$101 – $380 · +42% against today's price
- 26 buy or overweight
- 25 hold
- 5 underweight or sell
The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.
Against the companies it is compared to
| Company | Market cap | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross | Net | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHTRCharter Communications, Inc. | $16B | 3.0× | 5.6× | 56.6% | 9.1% | 30% |
| FOXAFox Corporation | $28B | 14.6× | 9.3× | 49.4% | 9.8% | 15% |
The median is of the 1 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 79.6% below it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.
What it has traded at
What its sector has traded at
Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.
Discounted cash flow
| Model | Fair value | Against | Computed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard DCF | $1089 | $139.55 · +680% | 2026-06-10 |
| Levered DCF | $443 | $139.55 · +217% | 2026-06-10 |
The vendor’s intrinsic-value models. Treat them as a low-growth anchor — for a fast grower the market routinely pays well above a DCF. These were computed against the price in the “against” column, not today’s.
Every estimate on one scale
The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.