New York, May 22, 2026, 05:07 ET
- Cogent Communications ended Thursday at $18.37, rising 3.38% on volume of 909,466 shares.
- Pomerantz LLP is looking into possible claims linked to Cogent’s first-quarter report and the share price drop on May 4.
- Nasdaq’s regular session will run 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday. U.S. markets stay closed Monday for Memorial Day.
Cogent Communications Holdings shares turned higher Thursday, ending up 3.38% at $18.37. The stock moved between $17.30 and $18.58 through the session. Heading into Friday, CCOI faces new attention from an investor law firm.
Timing is in focus. Friday wraps up the last regular U.S. trading before the Memorial Day break on Monday, with Cogent still working to recover from its May 4 earnings drop. Nasdaq lists stock trading from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, and Memorial Day, May 25, is marked as a market holiday.
Pomerantz LLP said May 21 it’s looking into possible securities fraud or other illegal practices by Cogent or some of its leaders. The law firm pointed to Cogent’s first-quarter report and noted service revenue dropped compared to the previous period. Shares slid $6.79, or 19.32%, to $16.37 on May 4.
First-quarter figures are back in the spotlight. Cogent reported service revenue of $239.2 million for the March quarter, off from $240.5 million in the prior quarter and down 3.2% year over year. On-net revenue, for buildings tied directly to Cogent’s network, climbed 4.6% from last year. Off-net revenue, where another carrier connects the last mile, dropped 17.0%.
Higher-value network products are still doing most of the heavy lifting for the bull case. Wavelength revenue surged 90.8% from a year ago to $13.6 million. Customer connections for wavelength services climbed 71.2% to 2,263. Cogent kept its quarterly dividend at 2 cents per share.
Stocks moved higher. The Dow climbed 0.6%, the S&P 500 ended up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq eked out a 0.1% gain, AP data showed. The iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF jumped 2.95% on NAV in a day. Lumen Technologies ended at $9.44, up 1.40%.
Wall Street isn’t expecting much near-term upside for the shares. Citigroup set a $20 target and kept its neutral view on May 19, according to Benzinga. The average price target from Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and RBC Capital implies only a 0.90% gain, Benzinga data show.
Cogent’s response has focused on asset sales and debt reduction, looking for demand from AI-linked traffic. At a JPMorgan event, CEO Dave Schaeffer told analyst Sebastiano Petti the Sprint network conversion went mostly as planned and said Cogent is up to 1,107 data centers. Wavelength demand beat expectations, Schaeffer added, citing AI training as a factor.
Schaeffer said the buyer for the first 10 data-center sites finished due diligence, and Cogent reached a purchase-and-sale deal. When that agreement is signed, Cogent plans to file an 8-K naming the counterparty and listing the facilities, the sale price, and when they expect to close.
Debt is still the main concern. Schaeffer said net leverage stands at 6.7 times and Cogent plans to pay that down until it gets to 4 times. Leverage is debt over earnings power, with a lower number giving more flexibility. He called the data-center sale a “material step” in that plan, but did not say how much Cogent expects to get from it. TradingView
The risk is some things may not go as planned. Any holdup in the data-center sale, more trouble from the Pomerantz inquiry, or Sprint customer losses coming faster than expected could slow the bounce. Cogent is also getting T-Mobile subsidy payments, which Schaeffer said should last just under two years. He said EBITDA growth could flatten in 2028 when those payments end. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
CCOI is working off a steep earnings-day drop right now. Investors watching for a filing about the data-center sale, or better proof that wavelength and on-net growth are outpacing its legacy declines, could get more than just Thursday’s rebound.
