CHTR — The comparison after Cox
Charter's acquisition makes its latest revenue growth look very different depending on the comparison.
On November 6, $CHTR reported third-quarter revenue of $14.9 billion, up 9.1% on an actual basis, primarily because the results included the Cox transactions. On a pro forma basis, which treats the combined business as though the transaction had occurred earlier, revenue fell 1.5% year over year.
The company reported an actual net loss attributable to shareholders of $2.4 billion, primarily driven by a $6.3 billion franchise impairment charge. An impairment is an accounting reduction in the recorded value of an asset; it is different from spending that amount of cash during the quarter. It still reflects a change in the company's assessment of the business.
The customer trend matters beyond the accounting. Charter said its legacy business lost 156,000 internet customers in the quarter. It announced a new operating model aimed at returning to customer growth and improving efficiency, including targeted cost savings.
In the next results, compare pro forma internet customer changes and revenue with free cash flow and progress against the savings targets. That will make it easier to assess the combined business without confusing acquisition-driven scale with underlying growth.