Cogent Communications Holdings Inc

Cogent Communications delivered a profitability surprise in Q3 2025, posting a net loss of $0.87 per diluted share against a consensus estimate of $1.22, a beat of 28.69%, even as revenue of $241.95 million fell short of the $246.13 million analysts had expected and declined 5.9% year-over-year. The headline driver of the bottom-line improvement was a July 2024 change in the estimated useful life of owned fiber, extended from 14 to 40 years, which sharply reduced depreciation and helped narrow the operating loss to $18.13 million from $57.83 million a year ago. EBITDA climbed 36.0% year-over-year to $48.78 million, with margin expanding to 20.2%, while operating cash flow turned positive at $3.10 million after a deeply negative prior quarter. Brighter spots included wavelength revenue surging 92.5% year-over-year to $10.18 million and IPv4 leasing revenue rising 55.5% to $17.48 million. Looking ahead, Cogent signed a non-binding letter of intent in October 2025 to sell two data centers for $144 million, a move that could provide meaningful relief against a gross leverage ratio of 8.24x, though the stock has lost significant ground this year amid investor concern over the company's financial trajectory.