CCOI

Cogent's core business is going the wrong way. FY2025 revenue fell 5.8% to $976M (from $1.04B in FY2024), operating income was -$101M, and net income was -$182M — the company is unprofitable at the operating line three years after the Sprint/Cogent Fiber acquisition that was supposed to be transformative. The 10-K explicitly flags 'difficulties integrating our business with the Cogent Fiber Business' and 'increasing competition leading to lower prices for our services' as material risks, and the numbers corroborate both: revenue is shrinking even as the integrated network footprint has grown.

The balance sheet is the bigger problem. Stockholders' equity is now NEGATIVE $63.8M (down 128.7% YoY), retained earnings are -$709M, and long-term debt jumped 18.8% to $1.73B against just $149M of cash (down 25.2%). Meanwhile the company paid out $150M in dividends and $16.7M in buybacks in FY2025 while generating NEGATIVE $10.6M of operating cash flow and spending $188M on capex — i.e., the entire shareholder distribution was funded by incremental debt. That is not sustainable, and the MD&A's own risk language calls out 'our ability to make payments on our indebtedness as they become due' and 'risks associated with variable interest rates under our Swap Agreement.'