CHTR vs TDS: How Charter Communications and Telephone and Data Systems Compare (2026)

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: CHTR is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CHTR and TDS share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CHTR and TDS exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Charter Communications is a leading US broadband connectivity company that markets Internet, Mobile, TV, and Voice services under the Spectrum brand to roughly 59 million homes and businesses across 41 states. The core business is residential and commercial broadband, which throws off large and steady cash flows, while Spectrum Mobile (an MVNO running on Verizon's network) has become the fastest-growing part of the company, reaching about 12.1 million lines as of Q1 2026 after adding around 370,000 lines in the quarter. Traditional cable video continues to shrink as customers cut the cord, so the investment story now centers on defending broadband and converting the base into bundled mobile customers.

Full CHTR guide

Telephone and Data Systems is a holding company that has spent the last two years dismantling and rebuilding itself. Its wireless business, UScellular, sold its operations and a large slice of spectrum to T-Mobile in a deal worth roughly $4.4 billion that closed in August 2025. What survived the sale is the infrastructure: about 4,400 cell towers, now housed in a separately listed entity called Array Digital Infrastructure, in which TDS holds roughly 81.9% of the equity and about 95.9% of the voting power. Alongside that sits TDS Telecom, the wireline segment, which passed one million marketable fiber service addresses and is building toward a target of about 2.1 million by 2028. Total revenue from continuing operations was roughly $309 million in the second quarter of 2026, with TDS Telecom contributing about $248 million of it.

Full TDS guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• CHTR drivers: Spectrum Mobile convergence; Pending Cox merger and scale.
• TDS drivers: Fiber penetration, not fiber passings; The T-Mobile anchor lease at Array.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Broadband subscriber losses are the central risk, as fixed wireless from T-Mobile and Verizon (now over 20 million combined FWA subscribers industrywide) and fiber overbuilders continue to take share in a saturated market. For TDS, fiber is a capital-intensive business competing directly against cable incumbents and fixed wireless access from the same national carriers TDS now leases towers to, and overbuilt markets can see subscriber economics deteriorate quickly.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CHTR if you believe its drivers more; TDS if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CHTR and TDS guides.

CHTR. Charter trades at a very low single-digit earnings multiple, reflecting the market's concern about broadband subscriber declines and its heavy debt rather than distressed fundamentals. Q1 2026 revenue fell about 1 percent to $13.6 billion and EPS of $9.17 missed estimates, which sent the stock down sharply. The small equity market cap sits atop a much larger enterprise value because of roughly $97 billion in net debt.

TDS. Reported revenue understates the fiber growth rate because divested territories and declining copper lines sit in the same line item. The Q2 2026 earnings figure is not a clean run rate either, since post-transaction accounting and one-time items dominate it. Analysts generally value TDS on a sum of the parts: a fiber network valued per passing or per subscriber, plus a tower portfolio valued on contracted rent multiples, less debt and the Array minority interest.

Headline figures (approximate, July 2026): CHTR shows revenue (ttm) ~$54.5B, q1 2026 revenue ~$13.6B (down ~1% YoY), adjusted ebitda (q1 2026) ~$5.64B (down ~2.2% YoY), market cap ~$20B; TDS shows market cap ~$4.1B, revenue (ttm, continuing ops) ~$1.2B, q2 2026 revenue ~$309M (vs ~$299M a year earlier), q2 2026 diluted eps (continuing ops) ~$2.24.

CHTR and TDS are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CHTR and TDS exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.