Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. CCOI reported mixed first-quarter 2026 results, with the bottom line beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate while the top line missing the same.
This Washington, DC-based Internet service provider recorded lower year-over-year revenues, mainly due to ongoing weakness in legacy Sprint-related operations and off-net revenues, which offset gains in on-net and wavelength services.
Net Income
During the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $39.5 million or a loss of 83 cents per share compared with a net loss of $52 million or a loss of $1.09 per share in the year-ago quarter. Lower operating costs improved the bottom line and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20 cents.
Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. Quote
Revenues
Service revenues decreased to $239.2 million from $247 million in the year-earlier quarter, owing to a decline in Off-Net revenues. The top line fell short of the Zacks consensus estimate of $239.4 million.
On-Net revenues in the quarter were $135.6 million, up from $129.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenues beat our estimate of $133 million. Customer connections of On-Net rose to 87,899 from 86,781.
Off-Net revenues were $89 million compared with $107.3 million in the year-earlier quarter. The segment's customer connections decreased to 24,014 from 27,508 in the year-ago quarter. Net sales miss our revenue estimate of $96.6 million.
Wavelength revenues were $13.6 million in the quarter, up from $7.1 million in the year-ago quarter. The segment's customer connections were 2,263, up from 1,322 in the prior-year quarter. Revenues miss our estimate of $14.1 million.
Non-core revenues were $1 million, down from $3 million in the year-ago quarter. The segment's customer connections were 2,633, down from 5,120 in the prior-year quarter. The company’s net-centric customer connections increased to 65,098 from 61,795 a year ago. Enterprise customer connections decreased to 9,808 from 13,641 a year ago.
Other Details
GAAP gross profit was $55.9 million, up from $33.6 million a year ago, with respective margins of 23.4% and 13.6%. Non-GAAP gross profit aggregated $110.3 million compared with $110.1 million in the year-ago quarter, with respective margins of 46.1% and 44.6%. Operating loss was $13.5 million compared with a loss of $40.3 million a year ago.
During the quarter, EBITDA was $45.2 million compared with $43.8 million a year ago, with respective margins of 18.9% and 17.7%. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $70.2 million from $68.8 million in the year-ago quarter, with respective margins of 29.3% and 27.8%.
Cash Flow & Liquidity
In the first quarter of 2026, Cogent generated $14.8 million of net cash from operating activities compared with $36.4 million in the year-ago quarter. As of March 31, 2026, the company had $179.3 million in cash and cash equivalents & restricted cash with $605 million of finance lease obligations (net of current maturities).
CCOI’s Zacks Rank
Cogent currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Upcoming Releases
HubSpot, Inc. HUBS is scheduled to release first-quarter 2026 earnings on May 7. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $2.47 per share, suggesting growth of 38.76% from the year-ago reported figure.
HubSpot has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 20%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 3.01% in the last four reported quarters.
CDW Corporation CDW is set to release first-quarter 2026 earnings on May 6. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $2.28 per share, implying growth of 6.05% from the year-ago reported figure.
CDW has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 7.25%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 5.72% in the last four reported quarters.
Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI is set to release first-quarter 2026 earnings on May 7. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $3.25 per share, implying growth of 2.2% from the year-ago reported figure.
Motorola has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 9.4%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 5.66% in the last four reported quarters.
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