Cogent Communications Holdings Inc

Latest Results (07.04.2026):

Cogent Communications Holdings Inc — Third Quarter 2025: Cogent reported FQ3 2025 revenue of $241.9 million, EBITDA (as adjusted) of $73.8 million (30.5% margin) and GAAP EBITDA of $48.8 million (20.2% margin). Management emphasized deleveraging, operational efficiencies, continued wavelength and IPv4 leasing growth, and the monetization of repurposed Sprint data centers while pausing buybacks and reducing the quarterly dividend to $0.02 per share until net leverage reaches 4.0x LTM EBITDA.

Revenue & margins

Q3 revenue $241.9M (down $4.3M, -1.7% sequential). EBITDA as adjusted $73.8M (up $0.3M sequential) with a 30.5% adjusted margin (+70 bps sequential); GAAP EBITDA $48.8M (20.2% margin, +50 bps sequential). Management says revenue is returning to growth after Sprint-related grooming, with high-margin on-net, wavelength and IPv4 leasing expanding.

Capital allocation & dividend

Board reduced the quarterly dividend to $0.02 per share to accelerate delevering; dividend policy will remain at that level until net leverage reaches 4.0x LTM EBITDA. The stock buyback program is temporarily suspended.

Debt, leverage & T‑Mobile payments

Total gross debt at par (including $601.8M finance leases) was ~$2.3B; reported net debt (after cash and $224.2M due from T‑Mobile) about $1.9B. Management showed adjusted leverage metrics (incorporating T‑Mobile IP Transit payments) improving: gross-debt-adjusted / LTM EBITDA 7.45 (this quarter), net leverage ~6.65. Under indentures, reported leverage ratios were lower (e.g., 4.39 under the $600M 2032 indenture). T‑Mobile IP Transit payments: $25M per quarter through Q4 2027 (monthly flows described in call).

Wavelength business

Wavelength revenue $10.2M in Q3 (+93% YoY; +12% sequential). Cogent can provision 10G/100G/400G in 996 data centers and had 454 sold/provisioned locations (up from 418). Backlog/funnel ~5,221 opportunities. Management reiterated a multi‑year ambition to capture ~25% of the long‑haul wavelength market (they cited a $500M target vs. a $2B long‑haul market), but near‑term recognition depends on customer acceptance of installed waves (several hundred installed but not yet accepted).

IPv4 leasing

IPv4 leasing revenue $17.5M (up 14.1% sequential, +55.5% YoY); leased inventory at quarter‑end 14.6M addresses (total inventory ~38M). Average revenue per leased address in the quarter $0.31.

Data center monetization & integration

Cogent has effectively completed Sprint network integration and repurposed 24 Sprint facilities for data center use. Entered nonbinding LOI in early October to sell 2 larger data centers for $144M in cash; intends to monetize all 24 facilities via sales or wholesale leases. Cogent operates services in 1,686 carrier‑neutral and 186 Cogent data centers (Cogent sites ~214 MW installed/available).

On‑net vs off‑net, churn & traffic

On‑net revenue $135.3M (3,537 on‑net buildings) — small YoY decline but +2.2% sequential. Off‑net revenue $95.1M (25,518 off‑net customers; 18,400 off‑net buildings) — down 14.5% YoY and -6.9% sequential as Sprint off‑net contracts are groomed/terminated. On‑net churn 1.3% (improved), off‑net churn 2.1%. Network traffic +5% sequential and +9% YoY.

CapEx, operating metrics & tax/bad debt

Q3 CapEx $36.3M (down 35.5% sequential, reflecting Sprint integration and repurposing complete). Sales headcount: 617 quota-bearing reps; rep productivity 4.6. DSO 30 days; bad debt <1% of revenue (0.5% this quarter). Company estimates an effective tax rate ~25%, but expects bonus depreciation to limit actual tax on certain asset monetizations.