BUZZ-Street View: Charter Communications may face headwinds as broadband subsidy funding dries up

Reuters04-29

** Charter Communications posted larger-than-expected broadband subscriber losses and missed estimates for first-quarter profit on Friday

** The median PT of 25 brokerages is $300 - LSEG data

COMPETITION FROM FIBER

** Morningstar (fair value: $490) says promotional measures like extremely heavy discount on broadband and wireless could attract "disloyal" customers

** Adds co's heavy exposure to Affordable Connectivity Program $(ACP)$, a federal broadband subsidy, may impair growth in the short term as funding dries up in 2024

** TD Cowen ("buy," PT: $488) says despite ACP headwinds, co should still see earnings growth in 2024, benefiting from the Spectrum One free line roll-offs and political advertising tailwind in the second half of the year

** Bernstein ("outperform," PT: $370) says Q2 is seasonally low and likely to be further exacerbated as moves and new housing formation are low in the current market environment

** JP Morgan ("neutral," PT: $300) says co is facing increased competition from fiber which is weighing on broadband subscriber demand, despite increased spending on rural network expansion and network evolution

** Brokerage also expects a "sizable" subscriber/financial headwinds as ACP funding comes to an end in May

(Reporting by Priyadarshini Basu in Bengaluru)

((priyadarshini.basu@thomsonreuters.com))

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