In a legislative battle pitting the interests of T v. VZ and TMUS, the Senate held a hearing last week on the reauthorization of the FirstNet Authority (FNA), with the House holding another one this coming Wednesday. In this note, we analyze the first hearing as well as a draft House bill with an eye toward whether the upcoming Congressional action is likely to change the current economics of public safety communications for T, VZ, and TMUS.
In this product we rank the most positive and negative domestic stocks, filter the symbols by market-cap and trading volume, and then divide the companies into sectors and groups. We then manually look through charts leadership/changes, bottoms-up/top-down ideas, short-term patterns that may have long-term significance, etc. We believe you will find this product valuable as significant price and relative moves begin in the daily charts.
AT&T announced this morning that they have closed the Lumen fiber transaction. As part of this transaction, AT&T acquires over 4MM fiber locations and more than 1MM fiber customers in major markets. AT&T also acquires Lumen’s fiber build engine which should help accelerate fiber deployment. We published two comprehensive reports when the transaction was announced.
We shared our view of Charter’s results this morning. Subscriber and EBITDA results were better than expected. In this note following the earnings call and our follow-up conversations, we address the following key investor issues including 1) broadband subscriber trends; 2) price increases and broadband ARPU; 3) EBITDA growth; 4) amended MVNO agreement; and 5) Leverage.
Charter’s broadband losses were better than expected. Revenue missed but EBITDA beat estimates on lower costs. We expect the stock to trade up on these results, but where it winds up for the day will depend on commentary around 1Q subscriber trends and 2026 EBITDA guide. A reassurance that Charter will grow EBITDA in 2026 would be good for the stock.
We shared our view of Comcast’s results this morning. Results were in line and commentary on the business fundamentals were mostly unchanged. In this note following the earnings call and our follow-up conversations, we address the following key investor issues including 1) the big picture value unlock theory; 2) the newly (apparently) amended VZ MVNO agreement; 3) broadband ARPU growth; 4) Connectivity EBITDA growth; 5) 2026 capital spend; 6) wireless net adds, and 7) 2026 FCF.
Comcast’s results were mostly in line with estimates. Broadband losses and ARPU were in line. On the call, we would be keen to hear about subscriber trends in 1Q. We don’t expect any major changes to the stock price based on these results. What will drive the stock today is commentary on 1Q broadband trends and potential ‘value unlock’ from an NBCU spin.
Earlier today, we published our quick take on AT&T’s 4Q results and our note following the earnings call where we discussed some controversies heading into today’s results. This note focuses on the model update. Our subscriber estimate changes are modest. Revenue, EBITDA and FCF are slightly higher but within the guidance range. A full refresh reflecting the new reporting structure is forthcoming.
We shared our view of AT&T’s results this morning (note here). Results and guidance were solid. In this note following the earnings call and our multiple follow up conversations, we address key investor issues including 1) postpaid phone ARPU growth; 2) the pace of fiber deployment; 3) Internet Air net adds and ARPU growth; and 4) broadband ARPU growth. You see the trend, right? People care deeply about price and ARPU.
AT&T reported 4Q results and guidance this morning which largely met or topped expectations. Given the concerns about interior industry competitive dynamics (ok, price war fears), the fact that ARPU and net adds and ‘26 guidance are all pretty much where they should be is a healthy place to start 4Q results season.
We can’t remember a time when investors were as nervous about wireless earnings as they are going into 4Q25 results. We think this concern is by and large overblown and we will all come out feeling consoled on the other side of this earnings cycle. In this short note, we discuss the key controversies impacting the wireless sector currently and our perspective.
With the CHTR/Cox deal moving towards approval and CMCSA out of running for WBD, we are again getting questions as to whether CMCSA could buy the combined CHTR/Cox entity. Further, as our New Street colleagues discussed yesterday, there has been a divergence in the stock price performances of Comcast and Charter driven by a potential ‘value unlock’ resulting from a potential split of Comcast cable from NBCU. It is beyond the scope of our expertise to analyze the financial details that could jus...
Tomorrow, weather permitting, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the FirstNet Authority (FNA). Generally, we don’t write about Congressional hearings as they focus on sound bites rather than policy relevant to investors. Here, however, the hearing could prove market relevant. FNA has a contract with T, but Congress must act if the FNA is to be reauthorized past 2027. And the battle over the terms of that reauthorization pits T v. VZ and TMUS. In this note we provide backg...
Investors have been asking about the diverging stock price performance between Comcast and Charter. We believe the reason is an expanding conversation about the potential ‘value unlock’ that could emerge were Comcast to split its cable and NBCU businesses. In this note, we estimate what Comcast could be worth were this scenario to play out. To be clear, we are skeptical. Not that it shouldn’t happen, but rather the Roberts’ are too invested in their belief about the synergy between these entitie...
We are taking 3Q25 results and the most recent cNPS data and laying out our latest thinking and forecasts ahead of 4Q results. We expect 4Q results and attendant 2026 guidance to contain material information value for investors and we wanted to share our latest forecasts, data, and trends as a starting point as we navigate this impactful season.
We recently published our Future of Broadband report where we predicted Cable’s broadband market share will continue to fall for the foreseeable future. We got the question, 'what is cable market share looking like in the most mature fiber markets, is it asymptoting?'. The answer is no. In this report, we use data from our Opensignal partnership to show that Cable’s subscriber market share has continued to fall in markets where they compete against only one fiber provider over a multi-year perio...
Earlier this month DISH filed an antitrust complaint against DIS in the latest chapter of a long running dispute over DIS’s efforts to create new sports bundles and DISH’s efforts to create new options for how its customers access programming over its platform. In this note we explore the implications of the battle, how it might affect the flexibility of content and distribution in seeking to adjust to thrive in the media world to come, and what it could tell us about the direction of media and...
The Supreme Court is reviewing two combined cases, one involving T and the other VZ, that question the constitutionality of the way the FCC enforces its rules. In this note, we describe the cases and how the outcome may affect investments in the sector.
This week we published three notes that preview what we think will be critical to investors in telecom/media/tech policy environment. In the first, we evaluated what questions do we not know the answer to today but will in a year that will have a material impact on stocks and depend in part on policy. In the second, we looked at the biggest policy related investment stories of 2025 and how the lingering elements of those stories will play out. In this third one we evaluate nine predictions mad...
Moody's Ratings (Moody's) assigned Baa1 ratings to T-Mobile USA, Inc.'s (T-Mobile) proposed backed senior unsecured notes, which will be comprised of various maturities. T-Mobile intends to use the net proceeds from the proposed offering for general corporate purposes, which may include refinancing ...
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