• by Wayne Friedman , February 21, 2014

Charter Communications -- the fourth-biggest U.S. cable operator, which recently missed out on efforts to acquire Time Warner Cable -- posted a strong revenue gain for its fourth-quarter reporting period. But investors weren’t entirely happy.

The cable company added on 12% in revenues to $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter -- helped by the recognition of its $1.6 billion acquisition of Bresnan Broadband Holdings.  Leaving out Bresnan’s results, revenue was 5% higher. Charter’s midday stock price sank 5% to $125.18.

For the fourth quarter, Charter had a net loss of 2,000 cable video customers, but added 93,000 Internet and 56,000 voice customers.

Overall for 2013, Charter slipped 3% when it came to its cable video customers, landing at 4.18 million at year’s end, with Internet business climbing 8% to 4.38 million and voice subscribers up 10% to 2.27 million. Charter’s revenue per customer inched 2% higher to $107.97 per month.

Local cable advertising sales dropped nearly 18% versus the same period last year to $83 million, due to lower comparisons to a year ago, with its strong national and local political advertising period. For the year as a whole, advertising sales declined 13.5% to $96 million.

Net income was $39 million -- a reversal of a net loss of $73 million. This came primarily from a $4 million tax benefit versus a $75 million tax expense in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Charter conducted an eight-month takeover battle for Time Warner Cable -- pushed by its biggest shareholder, Liberty Media Corp., which owns 27% of Charter .