Charter Communications Inc - Class A
Q1 2025 Earnings
Market Reaction
S&P 500 over the same 30 days: +6.74%.
Did CHTR Beat Earnings? Q1 2025 Results
Charter Communications delivered a solid beat across the board in Q1 2025, with earnings and revenue both clearing Wall Street expectations as a dramatic surge in free cash flow underscored the company's improving financial profile. Diluted EPS came in at $8.42, edging past the $8.37 consensus estimate by 0.56%, while revenue reached $13.73 billion, a 0.4% year-over-year gain that topped estimates by 0.49%. The standout driver was free cash flow, which vaulted to $1.56 billion from just $358 million a year earlier, fueled by Adjusted EBITDA expanding 4.8% to $5.76 billion, a 14.1% reduction in capital expenditures to $2.40 billion, and meaningfully lower interest payments. Mobile continued to power growth, with 514,000 lines added in the quarter, pushing total mobile lines to 10.4 million and mobile service revenue up 33.5% to $914 million. Broadband losses narrowed to 60,000 from 72,000 a year ago, a modest but notable improvement. Charter held its full-year 2025 capex guidance at approximately $12 billion, signaling continued confidence in its network expansion and evolution strategy.
- Mobile service revenue growth of 33.5% driven by line growth and per-line revenue growth
- Internet revenue growth of 1.8% from promotional rate step-ups and rate adjustments
- Programming cost decline of 10.4% from fewer video customers and lower-cost package mix
- Customer operations costs declined 4.5% due to more efficient service infrastructure
- Lower cash paid for interest ($995M vs $1,236M year-over-year)
- Lower capital expenditures driven by timing of CPE, upgrade/rebuild and line extensions
- One-time benefits of $75 million in other expenses
“We continue to execute on our long-held strategy of delivering the best network and products, at the best value, combined with unmatched service. That strategy is working, as evidenced by our first quarter results. We remain on track to deliver customer, EBITDA and robust free cash flow results for many years to come, driving outstanding shareholder value.”
Charter Communications CEO, on the earnings call
Forward Guidance & Outlook
Charter expects full year 2025 capital expenditures to total approximately $12 billion, including line extensions capital expenditures of approximately $4.2 billion and network evolution spend of approximately $1.5 billion. Actual capex will depend on the pace of network evolution and expansion initiatives, supply chain timing, and growth rates in residential and commercial businesses. Management expressed confidence in delivering customer, EBITDA, and robust free cash flow results for many years to come.
CHTR YoY Financials
CHTR Revenue by Segment
Figures from SEC filings and company reports. Not investment advice.