Cogent Communications vs Lumen Technologies
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
KIRA’s take AI analyst
I put Cogent Communications and Lumen Technologies side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:
- Lumen Technologies is the larger business, with $12.4B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $976M for Cogent Communications, about 13 times as much.
- Lumen Technologies kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (−6.6% operating margin, against −10.4%).
- Lumen Technologies turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.0% FCF margin, against −20.3%).
Who comes out ahead
Of the 10 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.
Cogent Communications
CCOI
3/10
5-year growthReturn on capitalShare count change
Lumen Technologies
LUMN
6/10
Revenue growthGross marginOperating marginNet marginFCF marginNet debt / EBITDA
Side by side
Best in the row
| Latest fiscal year | CCOI FY25 | LUMN FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $362M | $4.4B |
| Revenue | $976M | $12.4B |
| Free cash flow | −$198M | $371M |
| Net income | −$182M | −$1.7B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −5.8% | −5.4% |
| 5-year growth | 11.4% | −9.8% |
| Share count change | 0.6% | 0.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 45.2% | 46.5% |
| Operating margin | −10.4% | −6.6% |
| Net margin | −18.7% | −14.0% |
| FCF margin | −20.3% | 3.0% |
| Return on capital | −3.8% | −3.9% |
| Return on equity | — | — |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $2.2B | $16.8B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 13.0x | 8.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $167M | $1.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | — |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 4 |
Ten years
Revenue
Operating margin
Free cash flow
Return on capital
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.