Cable One, Inc.

Total revenues were $348.9 million in Q2 2026, compared with $381.1 million in Q2 2025. Residential data revenue fell $16.7 million, or 7.3% year over year, driven by a 6.6% decline in subscribers while ARPU was relatively flat; business data revenue fell $3.8 million, or 6.6%, including $2.2 million tied to divested tower-contract revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was $173.5 million, or 49.7% of revenue, versus $203.2 million, or 53.3% in the prior-year quarter. Capital expenditures were $74 million, up $5.6 million year over year, and adjusted EBITDA less CapEx was $99.5 million versus $134.8 million last year. Management reaffirmed full-year CapEx is expected to remain consistent with the prior year.

Jim Holanda framed the quarter as a work-in-progress, saying the biggest opportunities are operational and within management’s control. He highlighted three priorities: improving retention, broadening acquisition channels, and strengthening the value proposition through speed upgrades, more gradual promo roll-offs, mobile, and added products like UCaaS and security tools. His tone was confident but measured, repeatedly emphasizing long-term penetration opportunity and saying the company is building a more balanced, locally tailored competitive response.

Todd Koetje walked through the income statement decline and pointed to lower residential data and business data revenue as the main top-line drags, offset in part by lower operating and SG&A expenses. He noted operating expenses fell $3.6 million year over year and SG&A fell $4.3 million, but both remained a higher share of revenue; adjusted EBITDA margin declined to 49.7% from 53.3%. On the balance sheet, he said the company reduced debt by $63 million in the quarter and nearly $130 million through the first two quarters, ended with $166.2 million of cash and equivalents, $3.06 billion of gross debt, and $700 million of undrawn revolver capacity; net leverage was 4.2x. He also said the company continues to evaluate financing alternatives and potential monetization of equity investments, including the $135 million carrying value in its Clearwave/Point interest.

Analysts pressed management on how it plans to improve penetration, what the higher direct-sales mix means for customer acquisition costs, and whether the company needs financing transactions. Jim said digital and direct sales were the immediate focus, with those channels rising to roughly 35% of sales from less than 10% a year ago, and said mobile plus bundled offerings are meant to help close the retention gap versus fiber and fixed wireless competition. Todd said CAC should rise slightly but not materially, and he declined to provide details on financing efforts, saying the company is actively evaluating alternatives. On market competition, management said fixed wireless overlap is now a little over 80% of the footprint and satellite competition has not been material so far, with OpenSignal estimating satellite market share at 1% in 2026.