Stocks · Communication Services · Telecommunications Services
Lumen Technologies, Inc. LUMN
$5.62 -2.26% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $5.92B
High risk
Next earnings report: Oct 29, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Net debt is 5.2× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- The stock is 52% below its highest close of the past year.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Communication Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 12%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 38%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 8%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 34%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 23%
- Gross marginBottom 41%
- Operating marginBottom 23%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 21%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 20%
- Interest coverBottom 25%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 22%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 20%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 23%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 40%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 44%
- 6-month returnBottom 31%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 45%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 19%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 29%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 47%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 3%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 44%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 40%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 29%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 6%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 20%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -6.8% | -7.7% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 47.7% | 47.8% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | -1.7% | -3.4% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 7.3% | 7.1% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -7.7% | -6.8% | ↓ | Bottom 12% |
| Gross margin | 47.8% | 47.7% | ↑ | Bottom 41% |
| Operating margin | -3.4% | -1.7% | ↓ | Bottom 23% |
| Net margin | -8.7% | -9.2% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 7.1% | 7.3% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -1.1% | — | Bottom 23% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -10.8% | — | Bottom 8% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -20.8%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -9.2 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 5.19×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -0.4×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.02%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.02%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +1.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.7%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -24.1%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.5%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $8.00
- Target vs current price
- +42.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 28
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 14%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | +47.7% | +4.0% | +2.9% | -3.1% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | -389.1% | -1.1% | -10.6% | +13.2% | -29.7% |
| Feb 3, 2026 | +209.5% | -5.3% | -13.0% | -22.4% | -2.7% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | +35.5% | -6.0% | -1.3% | -26.5% | -15.5% |
| Jul 31, 2025 | +87.5% | -0.2% | -15.7% | +18.2% | +74.7% |
| May 1, 2025 | +55.2% | -0.6% | +19.5% | +10.2% | +26.3% |
| Feb 4, 2025 | +280.0% | +3.5% | +2.3% | -1.2% | -27.3% |
| Nov 5, 2024 | +35.0% | +1.7% | +35.3% | -9.9% | -34.9% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | -$0.07 | -$0.13 | +47.7% | $2.81B |
| May 5, 2026 | -$0.47 | -$0.10 | -389.1% | $2.90B |
| Feb 3, 2026 | $0.23 | -$0.21 | +209.5% | $3.04B |
| Oct 30, 2025 | -$0.20 | -$0.31 | +35.5% | $3.09B |
| Jul 31, 2025 | -$0.03 | -$0.24 | +87.5% | $3.09B |
| May 1, 2025 | -$0.13 | -$0.29 | +55.2% | $3.18B |
| Feb 4, 2025 | $0.09 | -$0.05 | +280.0% | $3.33B |
| Nov 5, 2024 | -$0.13 | -$0.20 | +35.0% | $3.22B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 7.8× | — | — | Top 23% |
| EV / Sales | 1.48× | — | — | Top 40% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 14.13% | — | — | Top 20% |
| Earnings yield | -18.19% | — | — | Bottom 22% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 2.9× – 5.8× since Dec 31, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -3.1%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -10.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -25.5%
- RSI (14)
- 35.9
- Relative volume
- 0.99×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 51.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 24th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.87
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.39
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -52.5%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -69.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 2021 | Nov 1, 2023 | -93.6% | 696 days | Not yet recovered |
| Sep 28, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -16.2% | 24 days | 16 days (Nov 23, 2020) |
| Nov 24, 2020 | Dec 30, 2020 | -10.8% | 24 days | 10 days (Jan 14, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $5.92B
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$1.02
- Revenue (TTM)
- $11.83B
- 52-week range
- $5.38 – $11.95
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $19.69B | $17.48B | $14.56B | $13.11B | $12.40B |
| Gross profit | $11.20B | $9.61B | $7.41B | $6.41B | $5.76B |
| Operating income | $4.29B | $95.0M | -$9.58B | $460.0M | -$184.0M |
| Net income | $2.03B | -$1.55B | -$10.30B | -$55.0M | -$1.74B |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.91 | -$1.54 | -$10.48 | -$0.06 | -$1.75 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.22B | $3.33B | $3.18B | $3.09B | $3.09B | $3.04B | $2.90B | $2.81B |
| Net income | -$148.0M | $85.0M | -$201.0M | -$915.0M | -$621.0M | -$2.0M | -$200.0M | -$201.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.15 | $0.09 | -$0.20 | -$0.92 | -$0.62 | -$0.00 | -$0.20 | -$0.20 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $6.50B | $4.74B | $2.16B | $4.33B | $4.74B |
| Capital expenditure | -$2.90B | -$3.02B | -$3.10B | -$3.23B | -$4.37B |
| Free cash flow | $3.60B | $1.72B | -$940.0M | $1.10B | $371.0M |
| Dividends paid | -$1.09B | -$780.0M | -$11.0M | -$3.0M | -$1.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.00B | -$200.0M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.88B
- Total assets
- $30.78B
- Total liabilities
- $32.27B
- Total debt
- $13.49B
- Net debt
- $11.62B
- Shareholders’ equity
- -$1.49B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 29, 2022 | $0.25 | Sep 9, 2022 |
| May 27, 2022 | $0.25 | Jun 10, 2022 |
| Mar 7, 2022 | $0.25 | Mar 18, 2022 |
| Nov 26, 2021 | $0.25 | Dec 10, 2021 |
| Aug 27, 2021 | $0.25 | Sep 10, 2021 |
| May 28, 2021 | $0.25 | Jun 11, 2021 |
| Mar 5, 2021 | $0.25 | Mar 19, 2021 |
| Nov 27, 2020 | $0.25 | Dec 11, 2020 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 69,619,812
- Days to cover
- 5.27
- Change vs previous report
- -0.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Apr 1, 1999
- 3-for-2
- Apr 1, 1998
- 3-for-2
- Jan 4, 1993
- 3-for-2
- Mar 27, 1989
- 3-for-2
- Aug 2, 1988
- 3-for-2