Cogent Communications Holdings Inc
Q2 2026 Earnings
Includes $132,041 thousand in gains on asset sales ($132,041K) and finance lease terminations ($1,397K) from the sale of ten owned data centers in Q2 2026; also includes $1,579 thousand gain on debt extinguishment of 2032 notes
Market Reaction
Did CCOI Beat Earnings? Q2 2026 Results
Cogent Communications Holdings posted a headline-grabbing Q2 2026 earnings beat, though the story behind the numbers is dominated by a one-time asset sale rather than operational momentum. The company reported GAAP diluted EPS of $1.38, beating the consensus estimate of $-0.95 by 245.26%, a result that reflects $132.04 million in gains on asset sales and finance lease terminations tied to the divestiture of ten owned data centers, plus a $1.58 million gain on debt extinguishment of its 2032 notes. Strip away that context and the underlying picture is more restrained: service revenue of $235.56 million missed the $239.79 million consensus by 1.76% and fell 4.3% year-over-year, continuing a pattern of top-line pressure. Wavelength revenue grew 63.8% year-over-year to $14.83 million, but that growth is now shadowed by an active securities class action alleging the company's wavelength backlog was misleading and unlikely to convert to actual revenue, a claim Cogent has not publicly conceded.
- On-net revenue including wavelengths grew 6.2% YoY driven by on-net customer connection growth and rapid wavelength adoption
- Wavelength revenue grew 63.8% YoY with 66.4% growth in wavelength customer connections
- IP network traffic increased 16% YoY
- EBITDA as adjusted margin improved to 30.2% from 29.3% in Q1 2026
- Non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 47.0% from 44.4% in Q2 2025
- Network operations expenses declined 3.1% sequentially
- Data center asset sales generated $224.2 million in net proceeds and $132 million gain
CCOI YoY Financials
CCOI Revenue by Segment
Figures from SEC filings and company reports. Not investment advice.