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On Friday, Benchmark analyst Matthew Harrigan confirmed a Buy rating and a $450.00 price target for Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) shares, which currently trade at $354.27. According to InvestingPro data, analyst targets range from $261 to $525, with the stock currently showing signs of being undervalued based on Fair Value analysis. Harrigan’s endorsement comes ahead of Charter’s earnings release scheduled for the following day, with some reservations stemming from Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)’s recent conference call. Comcast hinted that broadband pricing power might not meet its 3-4% growth target due to consumer price sensitivity and increased competition from fiber providers.
Comcast’s management stated that they have various strategies to manage pricing, suggesting a potential shift in their Xfinity strategy to more closely align with Charter’s Spectrum One, which combines mobile and broadband services. This approach could potentially lead to lower average revenue per user (ARPU) for high-speed internet services. Charter, with its robust revenue of $54.87 billion in the last twelve months and a healthy gross profit margin of 39.58%, remains a prominent player in the Media industry. InvestingPro subscribers can access 7 additional key insights about Charter’s financial health and market position.
Harrigan noted that while Comcast and Charter have historically worked together on technology and product development, this marks a rare occasion where Comcast appears to be following Charter’s lead, particularly in offering competitively priced mobile plans to support broadband in a bundled package. He emphasized that the mobile market holds a significantly higher dollar value compared to broadband.
Despite the potential for lower broadband pricing, Harrigan believes that Charter has likely already adjusted its pricing strategy for bundled services to maintain customer volume. This anticipation of market dynamics reflects Charter’s proactive stance in a competitive environment, balancing the need for attractive pricing with the objective of preserving its customer base. With a P/E ratio of 10.88 and strong financial health score of 2.6 (rated as GOOD by InvestingPro), Charter demonstrates resilience in its market position. Discover comprehensive insights and detailed analysis in Charter’s Pro Research Report, available exclusively to InvestingPro subscribers.
In other recent news, Charter Communications released its fourth-quarter earnings report, which outperformed analyst expectations. The company’s adjusted earnings per share stood at $10.10, surpassing the projected $9.29. Additionally, Charter reported a 1.6% year-over-year increase in revenue, totaling $13.93 billion, slightly above the anticipated $13.88 billion.
Key drivers behind these figures include a 37.4% surge in residential mobile service revenue and a 26.4% boost in advertising sales revenue. Despite these gains, Charter faced headwinds in its core internet business, with a decrease of 177,000 total internet customers in the quarter.
Charter’s fourth-quarter Adjusted EBITDA rose 3.4% year-over-year to $5.8 billion. For 2024, the company recorded a revenue of $55.1 billion, marking a 0.9% increase from 2023, with Adjusted EBITDA climbing 3.1% to $22.6 billion. In terms of future developments, Charter anticipates capital expenditures of approximately $12 billion for 2025, with significant allocations for line extensions and network evolution initiatives.
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