Charter Communications Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

February 22, 2012

Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, February 27, 2012. Charter Communications offers residential and commercial customers traditional cable video programming (basic and digital video), high-speed Internet services, and telephone services, as well as advanced broadband services.

Charter Communications Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for a loss of 29 cents per share, a narrower loss from the year-earlier quarter net loss of 75 cents. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 6 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It also has dropped from a loss of 28 cents during the last month.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company fell short of estimates by 77 cents, coming in at net loss of 77 cents a share versus the estimate of 0 cents a share. It was the fourth straight quarter of missing estimates.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts predict a rise of 2.8% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $1.83 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are optimistic about this stock, with five analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and two rating it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, the company’s loss narrowed to a loss of $85 million (79 cents a share) from a loss of $95 million (84 cents) a year earlier, but missed analyst expectations. Revenue rose 2.3% to $1.81 billion from $1.77 billion.

Key Stats:

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue rose 1.1% in the second quarter from the year earlier, climbed 2% in the first quarter from the year-ago quarter and 4.3% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

Stock Price Performance: Between November 22, 2011 and February 21, 2012, the stock price rose $10.24 (19.5%), from $52.46 to $62.70. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between October 28, 2011 and November 8, 2011, when shares rose for eight straight days, increasing 17.3% (+$7.87) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 22, 2011 and August 2, 2011 when shares fell for eight straight days, dropping 14.7% (-$8.76) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com