# Cable One (CABO.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CABO

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:11.634Z. Financial observations: FY2012–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $8.47 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $371.03 per share, central $418.85 per share, high $482.51 per share. Buy at or below the central value $418.85 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:27:11.634Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 4 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 2

- Operating margin variation: 0.11×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.25×

- FY2018: 0.25×

- FY2019: 0.27×

- FY2020: 0.35×

- FY2021: 0.28×

- FY2022: 0.32×

- FY2023: 0.31×

- FY2024: 0.28×

- FY2025: 0.27×

- LTM to Mar 2026: 0.26×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 11.4pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 9.3%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 6.7%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 11.4 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 67.6%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 56.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 21.2%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 6.3%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 15.6%

- FY2018: 13.9%

- FY2019: 11.6%

- FY2020: 14.0%

- FY2021: 9.2%

- FY2022: 7.9%

- FY2023: 9.5%

- FY2024: 6.7%

- FY2025: 8.6%

- LTM to Jun 2026: -7.7%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.18×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $508M

- Net income, five-year total: $430M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 146.6%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 1.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 3.3%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.00×

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: 0.90×

- FY2024: 4.83×

- FY2025: 0.86×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 15.5% vs 8.6%

- Per-share earnings: 17.14 to 2.57 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- acquired goodwill and intangibles (proxy) exceeds half of ten-year net income with low and deteriorating ROIC

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -0.4%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -1.0%

- Market cap gain: -$2.9B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $823M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -0.4%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -1.0%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: -21.1%

- Per-share value change: -$14.57

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $17.14

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $2.57

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.38

- Average buyback yield: 1.7%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $3.3B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $1.4B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 15.5%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 8.6%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $17.14

- FY2017: $40.72

- FY2018: $28.77

- FY2019: $31.12

- FY2020: $51.27

- FY2021: $45.69

- FY2022: $33.74

- FY2023: $44.11

- FY2024: $2.57

- FY2025: -$63.21

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -16.5%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.07×

- Restructuring years, last five: 2

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 7.6%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 1.96×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -10.9%

- FY2017: -4.1%

- FY2018: -10.6%

- FY2019: -9.9%

- FY2020: -6.0%

- FY2021: -5.9%

- FY2022: -7.6%

- FY2023: -5.8%

- FY2024: -10.0%

- FY2025: -16.5%

## Holders

## Price story

Down 100% since Nov 2021 · "Cable One (CABO) Fights Subscriber Losses While Squeezing Out Cash" (finance.yahoo.com, Aug 2026) · sales -1.8%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:26.985Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-08-13: CABO Q2 Deep Dive: Customer Losses and Product Launches Shape Strategy Amidst Competitive Pressure ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cabo-q2-deep-dive-customer-031034091.html))

- 2026-05-03: CABO Q1 Deep Dive: Subscriber Losses and Margin Pressure Prompt Strategic Overhaul ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/cabo-q1-deep-dive-subscriber-112455206.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales -1.8%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1632127/000163212726000005/cabo-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2017: $960M 

- FY2018: $1.1B 

- FY2019: $1.2B 

- FY2020: $1.3B 

- FY2021: $1.6B 

- FY2022: $1.7B 

- FY2023: $1.7B 

- FY2024: $1.6B 

- FY2025: $1.5B 

- FY2026: $1.5B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 56.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1632127/000163212726000005/cabo-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2017: 64.9% 

- FY2018: 65.5% 

- FY2019: 66.7% 

- FY2020: 68.4% 

- FY2021: 71.6% 

- FY2022: 72.4% 

- FY2023: 73.7% 

- FY2024: 73.6% 

- FY2025: 51.3% 

- FY2026: 56.2% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in telecom services; annual sales are USD 1.5 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1632127/000163212726000005/cabo-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: revenue 1501423000; grossProfit 770772000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-05); CABO.US: Cable One, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides data, video, and voice services to residential and business customers in the United States. The company offers residential data services, a service to enhance Wi-Fi signal throughout the home, as well as expert technology support and network security services. It also provides various residential video services from basic video service to digital services with access to hundreds of channels. In addition, the company offers Sparklight TV, an IPTV video service and a cloud-based digital video recorder (DVR) service that allows customers to stream video channels from the cloud through a new app on supported devices, such as the Amazon Firestick, Apple TV, and Android-based smart televisions that does not require the use of a set-top box. Further, it provides traditional telecommunications services; residential voice services; fiber optic-based products include dark fiber, E-Line, E-Lan and E-Access ethernet services; and network-to-network interface connections. Additionally, it provides data, voice, and video products to business customers, including small to mid-markets, enterprises, and wholesale and carrier customers. Cable One, Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 51.3% to 73.7% during 2023–25; it earns 9.3% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 73.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 73.6%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1632127/000163212726000005/cabo-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 51.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.15550436439089285],[2018,0.13865311614968912],[2019,0.11604528960551654],[2020,0.14015400906394704],[2021,0.0920111768924326],[2022,0.07940691895773204],[2023,0.094799654756924],[2024,0.06662961559054227],[2025,0.08649788798476597],[2026,-0.0770374160571278]]; median 0.0934054158246783. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 2.6 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 144396000; owner earnings 102382000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 175196000; owner earnings 240451000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2018: growth capex 18030000; upkeep 197731000; owner earnings 164760000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.10943190094683175.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2019: growth capex 41154000; upkeep 216687000; owner earnings 178582000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.23044875743355994.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2020: growth capex 38277000; upkeep 265658000; owner earnings 304391000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.12574944725698198.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2021: growth capex 45502000; upkeep 339025000; owner earnings 291824000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.1559227479576731.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2022: growth capex 60275000; upkeep 350462000; owner earnings 213057000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.2829055135480177.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 370454000; owner earnings 239873000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 286354000; owner earnings 69880000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Dividend observations: [[2016,34445000],[2017,37216000],[2018,42854000],[2019,48527000],[2020,56574000],[2021,63453000],[2022,66255000],[2023,66300000],[2024,67903000],[2025,17232000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1632127/000163212726000005/cabo-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: cash repurchases 2631000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 10.4% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-05); CABO.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 10.439 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-05.

### What the price says

The price is less than 0.1 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Closing price 8.47 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 266.2232517464538; price multiple 0.03181540284117135. FY2025 cash earnings/share -54.41233367507643. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $576.74 per share

- 2016-11: $591.06 per share

- 2016-12: $621.73 per share

- 2017-01: $632.38 per share

- 2017-02: $625.42 per share

- 2017-03: $624.47 per share

- 2017-04: $681.86 per share

- 2017-05: $718.60 per share

- 2017-06: $710.90 per share

- 2017-07: $759.90 per share

- 2017-08: $758.74 per share

- 2017-09: $722.12 per share

- 2017-10: $709.81 per share

- 2017-11: $686.81 per share

- 2017-12: $703.35 per share

- 2018-01: $706.03 per share

- 2018-02: $680.96 per share

- 2018-03: $687.11 per share

- 2018-04: $635.12 per share

- 2018-05: $649.24 per share

- 2018-06: $733.29 per share

- 2018-07: $723.86 per share

- 2018-08: $837.74 per share

- 2018-09: $883.61 per share

- 2018-10: $895.74 per share

- 2018-11: $899.29 per share

- 2018-12: $820.10 per share

- 2019-01: $884.34 per share

- 2019-02: $948.99 per share

- 2019-03: $981.38 per share

- 2019-04: $1,060.53 per share

- 2019-05: $1,117.05 per share

- 2019-06: $1,170.99 per share

- 2019-07: $1,216.80 per share

- 2019-08: $1,297.62 per share

- 2019-09: $1,254.70 per share

- 2019-10: $1,325.37 per share

- 2019-11: $1,535.00 per share

- 2019-12: $1,488.47 per share

- 2020-01: $1,704.03 per share

- 2020-02: $1,573.02 per share

- 2020-03: $1,644.01 per share

- 2020-04: $1,912.86 per share

- 2020-05: $1,886.89 per share

- 2020-06: $1,774.85 per share

- 2020-07: $1,822.56 per share

- 2020-08: $1,840.33 per share

- 2020-09: $1,885.43 per share

- 2020-10: $1,731.86 per share

- 2020-11: $1,980.67 per share

- 2020-12: $2,227.72 per share

- 2021-01: $2,000.00 per share

- 2021-02: $1,914.85 per share

- 2021-03: $1,828.36 per share

- 2021-04: $1,790.00 per share

- 2021-05: $1,815.56 per share

- 2021-06: $1,912.81 per share

- 2021-07: $1,887.99 per share

- 2021-08: $2,099.59 per share

- 2021-09: $1,813.13 per share

- 2021-10: $1,711.21 per share

- 2021-11: $1,772.06 per share

- 2021-12: $1,763.45 per share

- 2022-01: $1,544.73 per share

- 2022-02: $1,432.85 per share

- 2022-03: $1,464.24 per share

- 2022-04: $1,166.20 per share

- 2022-05: $1,303.10 per share

- 2022-06: $1,289.32 per share

- 2022-07: $1,376.68 per share

- 2022-08: $1,135.00 per share

- 2022-09: $853.05 per share

- 2022-10: $859.43 per share

- 2022-11: $724.29 per share

- 2022-12: $711.86 per share

- 2023-01: $789.88 per share

- 2023-02: $690.61 per share

- 2023-03: $702.00 per share

- 2023-04: $758.41 per share

- 2023-05: $611.83 per share

- 2023-06: $657.08 per share

- 2023-07: $723.94 per share

- 2023-08: $650.57 per share

- 2023-09: $615.64 per share

- 2023-10: $549.87 per share

- 2023-11: $532.08 per share

- 2023-12: $556.59 per share

- 2024-01: $548.93 per share

- 2024-02: $456.00 per share

- 2024-03: $423.13 per share

- 2024-04: $393.85 per share

- 2024-05: $385.91 per share

- 2024-06: $354.00 per share

- 2024-07: $413.38 per share

- 2024-08: $352.72 per share

- 2024-09: $349.79 per share

- 2024-10: $341.56 per share

- 2024-11: $420.22 per share

- 2024-12: $362.12 per share

- 2025-01: $304.01 per share

- 2025-02: $260.18 per share

- 2025-03: $265.77 per share

- 2025-04: $267.27 per share

- 2025-05: $146.33 per share

- 2025-06: $135.81 per share

- 2025-07: $127.98 per share

- 2025-08: $161.48 per share

- 2025-09: $177.05 per share

- 2025-10: $148.55 per share

- 2025-11: $117.19 per share

- 2025-12: $112.85 per share

- 2026-01: $80.99 per share

- 2026-02: $95.95 per share

- 2026-03: $91.21 per share

- 2026-04: $91.49 per share

- 2026-05: $52.55 per share

- 2026-06: $53.11 per share

- 2026-07: $39.99 per share

- 2026-08: $27.38 per share

- 2026-09: $11.02 per share

- 2026-10: $8.47 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $214.99 per share, central $241.73 per share, high $277.32 per share

- FY2017: low $253.01 per share, central $284.47 per share, high $326.36 per share

- FY2018: low $303.83 per share, central $339.88 per share, high $387.87 per share

- FY2019: low $357.95 per share, central $404.85 per share, high $467.29 per share

- FY2020: low $467.20 per share, central $518.89 per share, high $587.69 per share

- FY2021: low $555.22 per share, central $624.07 per share, high $715.73 per share

- FY2022: low $577.09 per share, central $789.27 per share, high $920.91 per share

- FY2023: low $527.28 per share, central $646.86 per share, high $750.31 per share

- FY2024: low $459.90 per share, central $520.33 per share, high $600.76 per share

- FY2025: low $385.16 per share, central $435.27 per share, high $501.97 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1632127/000163212726000005/cabo-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-26.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.