Middlin' Results for Charter

There were no big surprises from Charter’s 1Q earnings call, which closely followed preliminary results it released at the beginning of Apr. But it was clear that Charter wasn’t able to continue the momentum started last week by Comcast’s gaudy numbers. Some of Charter’s numbers were good. It added 12K basic subs, almost 70K digital subs, 126K high-speed subs and almost 70K telephony subs. That helped Charter increase revenue 8% to $1.374bln. But other numbers were lacking. Cash-flow growth ($471mln) was flat. And operating expenses increased by 13.4%. — Fitch downgraded Charter’s sr unsecured debt, saying that the MSO’s "capital structure is increasingly unsustainable." It also bashed Charter’s "highly leveraged balance sheet and the absence of any meaningful prospects to deliver its balance sheet."