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Verizon or Charter: Which Telecom Stock Should You Bet on?
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Key Takeaways
Verizon and Charter are navigating changing demand across wireless and broadband markets.
VZ and CHTR continue investing in network expansion to support future growth.
Verizon and Charter face evolving opportunities and challenges in a competitive industry.
Verizon Communications, Inc. (VZ - Free Report) and Charter Communications (CHTR - Free Report) are both prominent players in the U.S. telecom sector. The companies primarily compete in fixed broadband, wireless services and enterprise connectivity verticals.
Verizon offers communication services in the form of local phone service, long-distance calls, wireless and data services. Charter Communications is the second largest cable operator in the United States and a leading broadband communications company providing video, Internet and voice services.
The U.S. telecom sector is highly competitive and saturated. Growing usage of high-bandwidth applications, surging AI workloads and federal initiatives to foster digital inclusivity are primarily driving investment in this domain. Amid this backdrop, let us analyze in depth the competitive strengths and weaknesses of the companies to understand who is in a better position to maximize gains from the emerging market trends.
The Case for Charter
Charter is benefiting from solid momentum in the Mobile Business. Charter added 428,000 mobile lines in the fourth quarter of 2025. It ended the year with 11.8 million total mobile lines, up 19.4% YoY. Mobile service revenues rose 13.1% year over year to $973 million.
To improve churn, the company has introduced bundled plans. Revenues from residential connectivity, including broadband + mobile, increased 2.3% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company boasts a massive network footprint consisting of 58.4 million fiber passings, 1 million-plus network miles and more than 300K fiber lit buildings. It is also planning to upgrade to symmetrical and multi-gigabit speeds across its footprint by 2027. Charter is committed to investing $7 billion to add 100,000+ miles of fiber-optic network infrastructure. The goal is to deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit Internet services across 1.7 million locations. Charter activated 483,000 subsidized rural passings in 2025.
However, the company faces stiff competition from other major players such as AT&T, Inc. (T - Free Report) and Verizon. AT&T added 1.1 million fiber broadband customers in 2025, ending the year with 10.4 million fiber customers. AT&T’s fiber footprint is expected to grow from 32 million locations in 2025 to 40+ million in 2026. The company’s long-term target is 60+ million fiber locations by 2030. Verizon is also aggressively expanding its fiber footprint across the country.
Amid this competition, Charter is emphasizing customer service differentiation to retain its user base. Strategies like 24/7 support, same-day service/install commitments, outage credits/guarantees help improve retention and brand positioning.
However, it is to be noted that Charter broadband subscriber losses continued in the fourth quarter of 2025. It lost 119,000 Internet customers in the fourth quarter of 2025. Its overall customer base is also shrinking. Total customer relationships declined 1.1% YoY. Advertising sales also dropped 25.8% year over year, owing to weaker political advertising. Along with these, heavy capex requirements for rural expansion and network evolution are putting pressure on margins.
The Case for Verizon
Verizon is benefiting from healthy traction in the wireless vertical backed by competitive price offers and diligent execution. In the fourth quarter, the company reported wireless retail postpaid phone gross adds of 3.5 million, up 13% year over year. Consumer postpaid phone gross adds were 2.7 million, up 15.3% year over year. The company’s wireless retail postpaid ARPA was $147.36 at the end of the fourth quarter, up 1.2% year over year.
Fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband remains a major growth engine in this segment. Q4 fixed wireless net adds were 319,000. Total broadband net adds were 372,000, highlighting strengths in both FWA and fiber. These factors are driving growth in Verizon’s Consumer segment.
However, the U.S. wireless market is characterized by stiff competition and high price sensitivity. Amid this backdrop, technical superiority, quality of services and scalability are the parameters a telecom service provider has to excel to maintain its competitive edge. Stiff competition with a relatively fixed pool of users is putting pressure on pricing and limiting VZ’s ability to attract and retain customers to some extent.
Verizon has taken a multi-dimensional approach to gain traction amid fierce competition. The company has been investing in improving its 5G infrastructure and capacity nationwide. Verizon launched 5G Network Slice - Enhanced Internet. A leading-edge fixed wireless Internet solution that gives customers supercharged uplink capacity, high performance, with no data caps. The company has undertaken pricing adjustments and introduced tailored plans to match the requirements of different customer segments. It has also aggressively expanded its fiber network infrastructure with the $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications. Such initiatives give the company a competitive edge over its prominent rivals such as AT&T, Comcast and Charter.
The company is also expanding beyond its legacy telecommunication services, venturing into new growth markets to diversify its revenue stream. The company has ventured into the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) market. It is collaborating with Kodiak AI to modernize the trucking industry by combining autonomous driving technology with advanced IoT and 5G connectivity. It is also expanding into the public safety domain with Verizon Frontline. Such initiatives bode well for sustainable growth.
How Do Zacks Estimates Compare for VZ & CHTR?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Verizon’s full-year sales and EPS implies year-over-year growth of 3.68% and 4.25%, respectively. The EPS estimates for 2026 have been trending northward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Charter’s full-year sales implies a year-over-year decline of 0.03%, and EPS implies growth of 20.85%, respectively. The EPS estimates have been trending downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Over the past six months, Verizon has gained 2.3%, while Charter has declined 37.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Verizon looks more attractive than Charter from a valuation standpoint. Going by the price/earnings ratio, Charter’s shares currently trade at 9.08 forward earnings, higher than 4.78 for Verizon.
Verizon and Charter both are expanding network infrastructure worldwide and offering bundled plans to expand their user base and improve customer service. However, VZ’s revenue growth projection far outpaces CHTR, whose revenues are projected to decline in the current year. VZ’s shows an upward estimate revision, underscoring growing investors’ confidence. Amid growing competition in the telecom market, Verizon’s prudent approach to venture into new emerging markets to open up new revenue-generating opportunities is a positive. Hence, with an attractive valuation and better Zacks Rank, Verizon seems to be a better investment option at the moment.
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Verizon or Charter: Which Telecom Stock Should You Bet on?
Key Takeaways
Verizon Communications, Inc. (VZ - Free Report) and Charter Communications (CHTR - Free Report) are both prominent players in the U.S. telecom sector. The companies primarily compete in fixed broadband, wireless services and enterprise connectivity verticals.
Verizon offers communication services in the form of local phone service, long-distance calls, wireless and data services. Charter Communications is the second largest cable operator in the United States and a leading broadband communications company providing video, Internet and voice services.
The U.S. telecom sector is highly competitive and saturated. Growing usage of high-bandwidth applications, surging AI workloads and federal initiatives to foster digital inclusivity are primarily driving investment in this domain. Amid this backdrop, let us analyze in depth the competitive strengths and weaknesses of the companies to understand who is in a better position to maximize gains from the emerging market trends.
The Case for Charter
Charter is benefiting from solid momentum in the Mobile Business. Charter added 428,000 mobile lines in the fourth quarter of 2025. It ended the year with 11.8 million total mobile lines, up 19.4% YoY. Mobile service revenues rose 13.1% year over year to $973 million.
To improve churn, the company has introduced bundled plans. Revenues from residential connectivity, including broadband + mobile, increased 2.3% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company boasts a massive network footprint consisting of 58.4 million fiber passings, 1 million-plus network miles and more than 300K fiber lit buildings. It is also planning to upgrade to symmetrical and multi-gigabit speeds across its footprint by 2027. Charter is committed to investing $7 billion to add 100,000+ miles of fiber-optic network infrastructure. The goal is to deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit Internet services across 1.7 million locations. Charter activated 483,000 subsidized rural passings in 2025.
However, the company faces stiff competition from other major players such as AT&T, Inc. (T - Free Report) and Verizon. AT&T added 1.1 million fiber broadband customers in 2025, ending the year with 10.4 million fiber customers. AT&T’s fiber footprint is expected to grow from 32 million locations in 2025 to 40+ million in 2026. The company’s long-term target is 60+ million fiber locations by 2030. Verizon is also aggressively expanding its fiber footprint across the country.
Amid this competition, Charter is emphasizing customer service differentiation to retain its user base. Strategies like 24/7 support, same-day service/install commitments, outage credits/guarantees help improve retention and brand positioning.
However, it is to be noted that Charter broadband subscriber losses continued in the fourth quarter of 2025. It lost 119,000 Internet customers in the fourth quarter of 2025. Its overall customer base is also shrinking. Total customer relationships declined 1.1% YoY. Advertising sales also dropped 25.8% year over year, owing to weaker political advertising. Along with these, heavy capex requirements for rural expansion and network evolution are putting pressure on margins.
The Case for Verizon
Verizon is benefiting from healthy traction in the wireless vertical backed by competitive price offers and diligent execution. In the fourth quarter, the company reported wireless retail postpaid phone gross adds of 3.5 million, up 13% year over year. Consumer postpaid phone gross adds were 2.7 million, up 15.3% year over year. The company’s wireless retail postpaid ARPA was $147.36 at the end of the fourth quarter, up 1.2% year over year.
Fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband remains a major growth engine in this segment. Q4 fixed wireless net adds were 319,000. Total broadband net adds were 372,000, highlighting strengths in both FWA and fiber. These factors are driving growth in Verizon’s Consumer segment.
However, the U.S. wireless market is characterized by stiff competition and high price sensitivity. Amid this backdrop, technical superiority, quality of services and scalability are the parameters a telecom service provider has to excel to maintain its competitive edge. Stiff competition with a relatively fixed pool of users is putting pressure on pricing and limiting VZ’s ability to attract and retain customers to some extent.
Verizon has taken a multi-dimensional approach to gain traction amid fierce competition. The company has been investing in improving its 5G infrastructure and capacity nationwide. Verizon launched 5G Network Slice - Enhanced Internet. A leading-edge fixed wireless Internet solution that gives customers supercharged uplink capacity, high performance, with no data caps. The company has undertaken pricing adjustments and introduced tailored plans to match the requirements of different customer segments. It has also aggressively expanded its fiber network infrastructure with the $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications. Such initiatives give the company a competitive edge over its prominent rivals such as AT&T, Comcast and Charter.
The company is also expanding beyond its legacy telecommunication services, venturing into new growth markets to diversify its revenue stream. The company has ventured into the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) market. It is collaborating with Kodiak AI to modernize the trucking industry by combining autonomous driving technology with advanced IoT and 5G connectivity. It is also expanding into the public safety domain with Verizon Frontline. Such initiatives bode well for sustainable growth.
How Do Zacks Estimates Compare for VZ & CHTR?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Verizon’s full-year sales and EPS implies year-over-year growth of 3.68% and 4.25%, respectively. The EPS estimates for 2026 have been trending northward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Charter’s full-year sales implies a year-over-year decline of 0.03%, and EPS implies growth of 20.85%, respectively. The EPS estimates have been trending downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Over the past six months, Verizon has gained 2.3%, while Charter has declined 37.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Verizon looks more attractive than Charter from a valuation standpoint. Going by the price/earnings ratio, Charter’s shares currently trade at 9.08 forward earnings, higher than 4.78 for Verizon.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
End Note
Verizon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) while Charter carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Verizon and Charter both are expanding network infrastructure worldwide and offering bundled plans to expand their user base and improve customer service. However, VZ’s revenue growth projection far outpaces CHTR, whose revenues are projected to decline in the current year. VZ’s shows an upward estimate revision, underscoring growing investors’ confidence. Amid growing competition in the telecom market, Verizon’s prudent approach to venture into new emerging markets to open up new revenue-generating opportunities is a positive. Hence, with an attractive valuation and better Zacks Rank, Verizon seems to be a better investment option at the moment.