At a glance
Charter Communications Inc is worth $13.78B, about 3 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue fell 0.6% to $54.77B in fiscal 2025, with 9.1% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 2.6% a year. It pays no dividend; it spent $35.27B buying back its shares over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned −50.6% over the past year with dividends reinvested and −29.9% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 31.5% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 53.2% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%).
The business in plain English
Charter Communications sells home and business connectivity under the Spectrum brand. According to its annual report (Form 10-K), filed January 30, 2026, its services were available to 58 million homes and businesses across 41 states. It offers Spectrum Internet, Spectrum Mobile, TV and home phone (voice) service as monthly subscriptions, sold alone or in bundles. Spectrum Mobile has no contracts and includes 5G access, and it is offered only to Spectrum Internet customers.
Internet is the core of the business. In 2025, Internet brought in $23.8 billion, or 43.4% of total revenue of $54.8 billion. Video (cable TV) added 25%, small business services 7.9%, mobile service 6.9%, fiber services for mid-sized and large businesses 5.4%, advertising sales 2.7% and voice 2.5%. The average residential customer paid $119.05 a month. Charter runs its footprint centrally as one business, so it reports no regional breakdown.
During 2025, Charter lost Internet, video and voice customers but added mobile lines. It is upgrading its network to offer symmetrical multi-gigabit speeds (equally fast uploads and downloads) across its footprint. It expects that work to be largely complete by the end of 2027. By the time the 10-K was filed, it had also spent $7.7 billion since early 2022 on subsidized rural expansion. That work activated about 1.3 million passings (homes and businesses its network can reach).
Price history
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CHTR -50.6% over the year to Nov 2, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By product or service
| Internet | $23.77B | 43.4% |
| Video | $13.70B | 25% |
| Small business | $4.35B | 7.9% |
| Mobile service | $3.76B | 6.9% |
| Other | $3.41B | 6.2% |
| Mid-market & large business | $2.97B | 5.4% |
| Advertising sales | $1.47B | 2.7% |
| Voice | $1.35B | 2.5% |
Latest results
- In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $13.53B, down 1.7% from a year earlier, and net income was $1.29B (-0.7%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $54.77B (-0.6% year over year; +2.6% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 9.1% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +2.6% watch |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 23.6% good |
| Free cash flow margin | 8.1% watch |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 31.1% good |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 3.2% watch |
| Net cash (cash minus debt) | $-93.45B weak |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $48.10B | $3.22B | $7.15B |
| FY2021 | $51.68B | $4.65B | $8.60B |
| FY2022 | $54.02B | $5.05B | $5.55B |
| FY2023 | $54.61B | $4.56B | $3.32B |
| FY2024 | $55.09B | $5.08B | $3.16B |
| FY2025 | $54.77B | $4.99B | $4.42B |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $13.78B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 3.2 |
| Dividend yield | None |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHTR price data to Nov 2, 2026 | -44.7% | -50.6% | -34.6% | -29.9% | -7.5% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | -44.6% |
| 2025 | -39.1% |
| 2024 | -11.8% |
| 2023 | +14.6% |
| 2022 | -48.0% |
| 2021 | -1.4% |
| 2020 | +36.4% |
| 2019 | +70.2% |
| 2018 | -15.2% |
| 2017 | +16.7% |
| 2016 | +41.5% |
| 2015 | +9.9% |
| 2014 | +21.8% |
| 2013 | +79.4% |
| 2012 | +33.9% |
| 2011 | +46.2% |
| 2010 | +9.7% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Before this security existed |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 29.6% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 31.5%, back to its old high 2.3 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 52.7% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 53.2%, not recovered by the end of the data |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-31 to 2026-10-31 (22 read): 3 open-market purchases ($2.6M) and 3 sales ($12.7M).
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 26, 2026 | Thomas Rutledge Director Emeritus | sell | $10.1M |
| May 15, 2026 | Mauricio Ramos Director | buy | $1.4M |
| May 27, 2026 | Thomas Rutledge Director Emeritus | sell | $1.3M |
| May 27, 2026 | Thomas Rutledge Director Emeritus | sell | $1.3M |
| Apr 28, 2026 | Wade Davis Director | buy | $995K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| Dodge & Cox | 12.6% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| BlackRock, Inc. | 7.4% | Sep 30, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 7.31% | Sep 30, 2026 |
| Ronald A. Duncan | 6.6% | Aug 19, 2026 |
| STATE STREET CORPORATION | 5.8% | Sep 30, 2025 |
| Capital International Investors | 2% | Dec 31, 2025 |
ETFs with the most weight in CHTR
| YALL God Bless America ETF | 4.6% |
| RSPC Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Communication Services ETF | 4.58% |
| TOGA Tremblant Global ETF | 4.31% |
| XLC Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund | 4.3% |
| IYZ iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF | 3.88% |
| SHRY First Trust Bloomberg Shareholder Yield ETF | 3.76% |
| OAKM Oakmark U.S. Large Cap ETF | 3.73% |
| FPAG FPA Global Equity ETF | 2.67% |
What could go wrong
- A very large and growing debt load. Total debt was about $94.0 billion as of June 30, 2026, against $509 million of cash and investments. Charter expects to borrow more, and its debt agreements restrict how it can operate.
- The Cox deal could disappoint. The 10-K warned the Cox Transactions might not close on time, could add more debt, and might bring smaller or slower cost savings than expected if Charter struggles to integrate Cox Communications.
- Big shareholders have special influence. Liberty Broadband and A/N have governance rights that give them sway over major deals. After the Cox deal, A/N and Cox Enterprises would get first rights to some newly issued shares, which may dilute other holders.
- Fiber and 5G rivals target Internet customers. Fiber-to-the-home providers, cell phone home Internet and satellite services compete hard, often with aggressive pricing. Charter lost Internet customers during 2025, and Internet supplied 43.4% of revenue.
- TV losses and rising programming costs. Video brought in 25% of 2025 revenue but faces streaming and satellite rivals. Charter may not be able to pass every rise in the fees it pays TV networks on to customers, squeezing profits.
- Cyberattacks or outages could knock out service. Hacking, ransomware, power failures and extreme weather can disrupt Charter's network. It says past intrusion attempts caused no material harm, but its backup systems and disaster plans may not cover every event.
Recent events
- Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
- Investor presentation or announcement
- Executive or board change
- Investor presentation or announcement
- Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Major agreement signed; Acquisition or sale of assets completed; Unregistered sale of shares; Change to shareholder rights; Executive or board change; Bylaws or fiscal year changed; Investor presentation or announcement
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation; Investor presentation or announcement
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Other company announcement
For income and retirement investors
Charter does not pay a dividend and paid none from fiscal 2021 through 2025, so the stock offers no regular income. Investors needing cash would have to trim their holdings. Charter instead returns money through buybacks (repurchasing its own stock), spending about $35.3 billion over those five years. Buybacks shrank from $15.4 billion in 2021 to $1.2 billion in 2024, then rose to $5.1 billion in 2025, more than that year's $4.4 billion of free cash flow (cash left after running and investing in the business).
Downturns have been painful. In the 2020 COVID crash the stock fell 31.5% but regained its peak by May 29, 2020, about two months after its low. In the 2022 bear market it fell 53.2% from January 3 to September 30, 2022, and had not recovered that peak as of October 28, 2026. Over the year to that date, the price fell 57.7%. Single stocks carry more risk than diversified funds.
Questions investors ask
Does Charter Communications pay a dividend?
No. Charter paid no dividends from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025. Instead, it returned cash through share repurchases: $35.3 billion over those five years, including $5.1 billion in 2025. Repurchases shrink the share count, which can lift earnings per share, but they provide no regular income. Investors who rely on a portfolio for cash flow would get income from this stock only by trimming their holdings.
How does Charter Communications make money?
Mostly from monthly subscriptions to its Spectrum home Internet service. Of $54.8 billion in revenue for 2025, Internet supplied 43.4% and cable TV 25%. The rest came from small business services, Spectrum Mobile, fiber services for larger businesses, advertising and home phone. The average residential customer paid $119.05 a month in 2025, up from $118.71 in 2024. Operating margin, the share of revenue left after day-to-day operating costs, was 23.6%.
How much has Charter stock fallen?
Sharply. As of October 29, 2026, the shares were down 47.8% year to date and 54.9% over one year. Over five years they lost 84% in total, or 30.6% a year on average. They also fell 39.1% in 2025 and about 48% in 2022. The deepest drop from a peak in the available price history was 87.5%. For context, revenue fell 0.6% in 2025 and 1.7% from a year earlier in the second quarter of 2026.
What is Charter's P/E ratio?
About 3, based on the share price on October 29, 2026, and earnings for 2025. The P/E (price-to-earnings ratio) compares a company's market value, about $13.0 billion here, with its yearly profit, $4.99 billion in 2025. A P/E that low can signal that investors expect profits to shrink or see high risk. Charter's total debt was about $94.0 billion as of June 30, 2026, far more than the market value of its shares, so small changes in business value can swing the stock widely.
What is the Charter and Cox Communications deal?
It is Charter's agreement to combine with Cox Communications. In its 10-K filed January 30, 2026, Charter described the Cox Transactions as pending. Charter would pay cash and take on Cox Communications' debt, and Cox Enterprises would gain first rights to some new Charter share issues. The 10-K warned the deal might not close and that savings could fall short. A separate Liberty Broadband Combination was also pending. An August 20, 2026 filing reported a completed acquisition or sale of assets.