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Sep 30, 2024

Cogent Q3 2024 Earnings Report

Cogent reported a decrease in service revenue and a net loss per share for Q3 2024. The company also approved an increase in its regular quarterly dividend.

Key Takeaways

Cogent Communications reported a service revenue of $257.2 million for Q3 2024, a decrease of 1.2% from the previous quarter and 6.6% year-over-year. The company experienced a net loss per share of $(1.33). The Board approved a regular quarterly dividend of $0.995 per share, representing a 1.0% increase from the previous quarter.

Service revenue decreased by 1.2% sequentially and 6.6% year-over-year to $257.2 million.

On-net revenue decreased by 3.0% sequentially but increased by 5.8% year-over-year to $136.5 million.

Off-net revenue decreased by 0.1% sequentially and 14.8% year-over-year to $111.3 million.

Wavelength revenue increased significantly, up 45.8% sequentially and 76.7% year-over-year to $5.3 million.

Total Revenue
$257M
Previous year: $275M
-6.6%
EPS
-$1.33
Previous year: -$1.2
+10.8%
On-net customer connections
87.66K
Previous year: 23.21K
+277.7%
Off-net customer connections
32.42K
Previous year: 12.9M
-99.7%
Gross Profit
$9.8M
Previous year: $15.1M
-35.1%
Cash and Equivalents
$316M
Previous year: $166M
+90.3%
Free Cash Flow
-$79.5M
Previous year: -$77.8M
+2.1%
Total Assets
$3.2B
Previous year: $2.96B
+8.2%

Cogent

Cogent

Cogent Revenue by Segment

Forward Guidance

Cogent continues to witness lower office occupancy rates overall in the buildings it serves in central business districts in North America, largely attributable to remote work policies originally instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the end of the pandemic, and despite some improvement in certain markets, Cogent continues to see office occupancy rates that do not approach pre-2020 levels.

Positive Outlook

  • Cogent has seen declining vacancy rates and increasing office occupancy rates in some cities, including in the three months ended September 30, 2024.
  • Cogent’s corporate customers are integrating some of the new applications that were part of the remote work environment into their everyday use.
  • Cogent’s corporate customers are upgrading their Internet access infrastructure to higher capacity connections.
  • Cogent continued to see these positive trends in its corporate business in some markets.
  • Cogent believes it will present an opportunity for increased sales if and when companies eventually return to the buildings in which Cogent operates, whether existing tenants or new tenants.

Challenges Ahead

  • Office occupancy rates in some markets may not recover.
  • Cogent may continue to see increased corporate customer turnover.
  • Cogent may see fewer upgrades of existing corporate customer configurations.
  • Cogent may see fewer new tenant opportunities.
  • These factors would negatively impact Cogent’s corporate revenue growth.

Revenue & Expenses

Visualization of income flow from segment revenue to net income