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Cable One, Inc. Earnings Missed Analyst Estimates: Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting Now
One of the biggest stories of last week was how Cable One, Inc. (NYSE:CABO) shares plunged 21% in the week since its latest quarterly results, closing yesterday at US$4.30. Revenues fell 2.9% short of expectations, at US$332m. Earnings correspondingly dipped, with Cable One reporting a statutory loss of US$75.66 per share, whereas the analysts had previously modelled a profit in this period. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.
Following the latest results, Cable One's six analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$1.47b in 2027. This would be a credible 5.0% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Earnings are expected to improve, with Cable One forecast to report a statutory profit of US$18.50 per share. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$1.48b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$18.50 in 2027. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.
Check out our latest analysis for Cable One
There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of US$44.25, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on Cable One, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$86.00 and the most bearish at US$13.00 per share. We would probably assign less value to the analyst forecasts in this situation, because such a wide range of estimates could imply that the future of this business is difficult to value accurately. With this in mind, we wouldn't rely too heavily the consensus price target, as it is just an average and analysts clearly have some deeply divergent views on the business.
Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. For example, we noticed that Cable One's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with revenues forecast to exhibit 4.0% growth to the end of 2027 on an annualised basis. That is well above its historical decline of 2.9% a year over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 9.8% per year. So although Cable One's revenue growth is expected to improve, it is still expected to grow slower than the industry.
The Bottom Line
The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$44.25, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.
Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Cable One going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..
However, before you get too enthused, we've discovered 5 warning signs for Cable One (2 are potentially serious!) that you should be aware of.
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