Charter Shares Dip on Higher Q3 Capex

Basic subscriber losses rise to 73,000 in period

By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/6/2012 5:26:26 PM

An unexpected rise in capital expenditures in the third quarter helped drive Charter Communications stock down about 2% Tuesday, but analysts seemed optimistic that the St. Louis-based MSO was moving forward according to plan.

Charter reported somewhat sluggish 4% revenue growth to $1.9 billion and cash flow declined 0.5% to $651million, missing analysts' consensus estimates of 4.2% revenue 2.8% cash flow growth, respectively. Basic-video losses of 73,000 in the period were above aggressive consensus of a loss of 45,000 video customers, while the company beat estimates by 10,000 subscribers on the high-speed data front, adding 78,000 commercial and residential customers.

But the real concern it appeared from investors was a 60% rise in capital expenditures to $488 million in the period, from $304 million in the prior year and well above consensus estimates of $412 million. While Charter said the spike was due to an increase in spending on customer premises equipment, it appeared to spook investors at least for a little while on Tuesday.

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