Stocks · Communication Services · Telecommunications Services
Optimum Communications, Inc. OPTU
$0.92 -2.82% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $430.1M
Weak trendExpensive vs sectorHigh risk
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 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
- Operating margin narrowed to -0.3% from 16.4% a year earlier.
- Over the past year the stock returned -60.7%, behind the S&P 500 by 75.8 percentage points.
- The stock is 66% 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 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 22%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 20%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 44%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 28%
- Gross marginTop 29%
- Operating marginBottom 25%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 20%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 1%
- Interest coverBottom 26%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 2%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 3%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 26%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 29%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 9%
- 6-month returnBottom 9%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 10%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 9%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 9%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 18%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 1%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 25%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 16%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 4%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 1%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -4.0% | -4.4% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 68.4% | 65.0% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 16.4% | -0.3% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | -0.2% | -2.5% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -4.4% | -4.0% | ↓ | Bottom 22% |
| Gross margin | 65.0% | 68.4% | ↓ | Top 29% |
| Operating margin | -0.3% | 16.4% | ↓ | Bottom 25% |
| Net margin | -58.1% | -3.1% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -2.5% | -0.2% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -0.1% | — | Bottom 28% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -3.8% | — | Bottom 20% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -21.0%
- 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.
- +8.0 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 85.63×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -0.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.00%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -4.7%
- 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 Jun 30, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 0 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 1 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $1.06
- Target vs current price
- +15.7%
- Analysts with a rating
- 6
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 0%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | -344.4% | +2.6% | +6.3% | +30.1% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | -3712.5% | -14.5% | -32.8% | -20.3% | -37.8% |
| Feb 12, 2026 | -1400.0% | +3.7% | -3.7% | -11.1% | -30.2% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | -5831.6% | -3.7% | -8.8% | -11.6% | -23.3% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | -250.0% | -8.4% | -3.8% | -2.5% | -12.6% |
| May 8, 2025 | -133.8% | +4.5% | +5.7% | -19.2% | -8.3% |
| Feb 13, 2025 | -399.6% | +0.7% | +2.2% | -11.8% | -3.3% |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -333.2% | -1.9% | -2.3% | -5.7% | +6.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | -$0.67 | -$0.15 | -344.4% | $2.02B |
| May 7, 2026 | -$6.10 | -$0.16 | -3712.5% | $2.07B |
| Feb 12, 2026 | -$0.15 | -$0.01 | -1400.0% | $2.18B |
| Nov 6, 2025 | -$3.47 | -$0.06 | -5831.6% | $2.11B |
| Aug 7, 2025 | -$0.21 | -$0.06 | -250.0% | $2.15B |
| May 8, 2025 | -$0.16 | -$0.07 | -133.8% | $2.15B |
| Feb 13, 2025 | -$0.12 | $0.04 | -399.6% | $2.24B |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -$0.09 | $0.04 | -333.2% | $2.23B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 87.1× | — | — | Bottom 26% |
| EV / Sales | 3.09× | — | — | Bottom 29% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -48.50% | — | — | Bottom 3% |
| Earnings yield | -1134.53% | — | — | Bottom 2% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 4.5× – 149.6× since Jun 30, 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)
- -5.2%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -6.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -1.3%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -28.1%
- RSI (14)
- 41.3
- Relative volume
- 0.80×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 85.0%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 68th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.10
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.02
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -66.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -82.5%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 29, 2020 | May 28, 2026 | -98.4% | 1358 days | Not yet recovered |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $430.1M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$10.39
- Revenue (TTM)
- $8.38B
- 52-week range
- $0.58 – $2.74
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $10.09B | $9.65B | $9.24B | $8.95B | $8.59B |
| Gross profit | $6.71B | $4.67B | $4.56B | $6.06B | $4.26B |
| Operating income | $2.52B | $1.93B | $1.92B | $1.68B | $1.57B |
| Net income | $990.3M | $194.6M | $53.2M | -$102.9M | -$1.87B |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.14 | $0.43 | $0.12 | -$0.22 | -$4.00 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.23B | $2.24B | $2.15B | $2.15B | $2.11B | $2.18B | $2.07B | $2.02B |
| Net income | -$43.0M | -$54.1M | -$75.7M | -$96.3M | -$1.63B | -$71.2M | -$2.88B | -$291.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.09 | -$0.12 | -$0.16 | -$0.21 | -$3.47 | -$0.15 | -$6.10 | -$0.67 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $2.85B | $2.37B | $1.83B | $1.58B | $1.23B |
| Capital expenditure | -$1.23B | -$1.91B | -$1.70B | -$1.43B | -$1.35B |
| Free cash flow | $1.62B | $452.6M | $121.6M | $149.4M | -$118.8M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$804.9M | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.30B
- Total assets
- $28.08B
- Total liabilities
- $33.59B
- Total debt
- $26.78B
- Net debt
- $25.49B
- Shareholders’ equity
- -$5.55B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jun 30, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 27,024,177
- Days to cover
- 16.58
- Change vs previous report
- -4.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.