Forensic Analysis · Communication Services / Telecom · as of Jun 28, 2026
Cable One, Inc. (CABO)
A forensic read on Cable One, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
0.4
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-22.8%
ROE
$300M
Market cap
2.17%
Dividend yield
Cable One, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 0.4, placing it in the Distress zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-3%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -3% and slipping from 6% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
3% of revStock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 3% of revenue and 15% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $7.55 per diluted share. Meaningful — reported free cash flow flatters the economics, since SBC is a real cost paid in shares.
$89MGoodwill impairments.Took $89M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year(s) (FY2025 ($89M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
-75%Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~75% in FY2025 (from FY2024). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies — weigh the cut when judging reliability.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-23.7%
Debt / Equity2.23x
Free Cash Flow$278.1M
Latest Revenue$1.50B
Return on Equity-24.9%
Revenue Growth YoY-4.9%
Go deeper — free with an account
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. An account adds the full interactive deep-dive on Cable One, Inc.:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about CABO's filings — AI Q&A across the 10-K, 10-Qs & 8-Ks
🔒Interactive valuation — reverse-DCF sliders, Monte Carlo & scenario stress
🔒Calibrated 12-month price forecast, with the math shown