Alright, so Cogent Communications, huh? This telecom biz, you know, ticker CCOI – has more fiber-optic cable than I’ve got socks, and trust me, I have loads. We’re talking 300,000 miles globally! Kind of wild, right? I mean, who even knew there was that much fiber?
Their dividend yield is something to chat about over coffee, isn’t it? 8.4% and they’ve been bumping it up, like, every single quarter. Imagine the commitment, every quarter since 2012. I’d probably forget at least once!
Anyway, here’s where things get all… messy. They sealed a big deal that sort of upended everything – in an exciting yet “uh-oh” kind of way. It’s like they snagged some stuff from T-Mobile and Sprint after the whole “you can’t merge unless…” drama. And bizarrely enough, they got paid to grab those assets. That’s the kind of deal I wish I could get at the flea market, just saying. But then, they had to plow money into making it all spruced up.
It’s like those Italian towns waving homes at you – like, “Hey, we’ll pay you to live here, but oh, by the way, you need to gut it and start from scratch.” A bit of a bait and switch. So, Cogent ended up with their finances looking a tad shaky, spending more than they had in the piggy bank.
Last year, they were out $204 million – and, oh, let’s not forget the $189 million doled out in dividends. So, you see where we’re going with this. And in 2025, they’re apparently nudging closer to, but still in the red. Woo-hoo, small victories?
The big wigs on Wall Street predict the tide’ll turn positive cash flow-wise by 2026. So, maybe hold your horses if you’re an investor, or at least don’t jump ship just yet. But, right now? Not so much. The dividends are sorta shaky. Picture a wobbly table with one short leg.
For those keeping score at home, the dividend safety rating is… tumbling to an F. Yeah, no sugarcoating that.
Enough about that. If you’re itching to dig into other dividend safety stories, you know the drill. Leave your fave ticker symbol in the comments. Better yet, hop over to the Wealthy Retirement site and type that name into the search bar. Just don’t go looking for funds – our Safety Net only works for individual stocks, like a quirky mechanic who’ll only work on certain vintage cars.
