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Cable One

CABO
33
Telecommunications Services · Communication Services
Price
$39.30
-2.19 (-5.28%)
Market Cap
$222.9M
Winston Score
33
Winston is serious
Below-average fundamentals — multiple weak pillars.

Share count falling — buybacks

11.7% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 6.4M (2021) → 5.6M (2025)

Cable One, Inc. is a cable and internet company that provides broadband internet, cable TV, and phone services to homes and businesses. It operates mainly in smaller cities and rural areas across the United States, serving customers in about 24 states under the Sparklight brand. The company focuses on markets that larger providers like Comcast or Charter tend to overlook.

Cable One makes most of its money from monthly subscription fees, and it has been shifting its focus away from video TV packages toward higher-margin broadband internet service. It is a mid-sized provider with a market cap of roughly $0.3 billion, which is small for the telecom industry. The company's main competitive advantage is being one of the few cable providers in the smaller markets it serves, but its biggest risk is rising competition from fixed wireless and fiber internet providers moving into those same rural and suburban areas.

Winston Score History

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1 trades / 12mo

0 Congressional buys and 1 sell on CABO in the last 12 months.

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Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

-7.3% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

>+1,000% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (12%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

18.4%ownership

Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$166M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Revenue declining

Cable One's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Gross Margin
50.0%
Healthy — 50.0% gross margin
Operating Margin
25.8%
Excellent — 25.8% operating margin
ROCE
2.0%
Weak — 2.0% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY
-5.3%
Shrinking sales (-5.3% YoY)
EPS YoY
N/A
Data not available
EPS Consistency
4/8 quarters
Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion
N/A
Data not available
FCF Margin
-20.6%
Burning cash (-20.6%)

Free cash flow is negative. They are burning cash, not generating it.

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Stability

Debt / Equity
2.10
Heavy debt load (2.10)
Interest Cover
2.78x
Tight — interest eats into profit (2.8x)

Interest coverage between 1 and 3. Profits cover interest, but with little room to spare.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)
N/M
Negative earnings — P/E not meaningful
P/E vs Forward
N/A
not available
Data not available

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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