Cable One, Inc.

Analysis for Ticker: CABO

Cable One Inc sells internet and cable television to 1,1 million customers in rural towns using brands like Sparklight and Fidelity Communications. The current math is a catastrophe because the company is pretending to make money while the business actually bleeds out. In the first quarter of 2026, they claimed a profit of 35,7$ million, but they only got there by selling 26,6$ million of their fiber network rights and using accounting tricks on their debt. The reality is that they only made 86,6$ million from operations, which is not enough to pay the 68,4$ million needed to keep the network running plus the 30,2$ million they owe in interest. They are losing customers every day, with residential data subscribers dropping 6,1% in just one year. This is a disaster because they have already spent their cash and are now maxing out their credit cards to pay for old debts and executive bonuses. The roots of this crisis start back in 12/2024 when the company paid 250,0$ million just to change a contract with a private equity firm called GTCR. This contract was a trap involving a smaller company called Mega Broadband Investments. Throughout 2025, the business began to rot from the inside. Revenue fell from 1,58$ billion to 1,50$ billion, and they ended the year with a massive loss of 356,5$ million. They had to erase 586,0$ million from their books because the franchises they bought were worth much less than they thought. To hide the bleeding, they stopped paying dividends to their owners, saving 67,0$ million a year just to keep the lights on.