Internet, cable TV, and phone provider Cable One (NYSE: CABO) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales falling 7.3% year on year to $353 million. Its GAAP profit of $6.12 per share was 0.6% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Cable One (CABO) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $353 million vs analyst estimates of $359.4 million (7.3% year-on-year decline, 1.8% miss)
- EPS (GAAP): $6.12 vs analyst estimates of $6.08 (0.6% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $183.3 million vs analyst estimates of $186.3 million (51.9% margin, 1.6% miss)
- Operating Margin: 24.5%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 14.1%, up from 11.9% in the same quarter last year
- Residential Data Subscribers: down 57,900 year on year
- Market Capitalization: $510.7 million
Company Overview
Founded in 1986, Cable One (NYSE: CABO) provides high-speed internet, cable television, and telephone services, primarily in smaller markets across the United States.
Revenue Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Regrettably, Cable One’s sales grew at a weak 1.8% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This was below our standards and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within consumer discretionary, a stretched historical view may miss a company riding a successful new product or trend. Cable One’s performance shows it grew in the past but relinquished its gains over the last two years, as its revenue fell by 5.8% annually. 
We can dig further into the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its number of residential data subscribers and residential video subscribers, which clocked in at 887,100 and 53,600 in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, Cable One’s residential data subscribers averaged 3.9% year-on-year declines while its residential video subscribers averaged 33.5% year-on-year declines. 
This quarter, Cable One missed Wall Street’s estimates and reported a rather uninspiring 7.3% year-on-year revenue decline, generating $353 million of revenue.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.3% over the next 12 months. Although this projection implies its newer products and services will fuel better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.
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Operating Margin
Cable One’s operating margin has been trending down over the last 12 months and averaged 6.6% over the last two years. The company’s profitability was mediocre for a consumer discretionary business and shows it couldn’t pass its higher operating expenses onto its customers.
In Q1, Cable One generated an operating margin profit margin of 24.5%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.
Sadly for Cable One, its EPS declined by 25.9% annually over the last five years while its revenue grew by 1.8%. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded due to non-fundamental factors such as interest expenses and taxes.
In Q1, Cable One reported EPS of $6.12, up from $0.46 in the same quarter last year. This print was close to analysts’ estimates. We also like to analyze expected EPS growth based on Wall Street analysts’ consensus projections, but there is insufficient data.
Key Takeaways from Cable One’s Q1 Results
We struggled to find many positives in these results. Overall, this was a softer quarter. The stock traded down 2.6% to $89.47 immediately after reporting.
Cable One underperformed this quarter, but does that create an opportunity to invest right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
