Optimum Communications, Inc. — financial distress indicators
Financial-health summary
Optimum Communications, Inc.'s reported numbers place it in the 'Watch' financial-health band (distress score 46/100). The main indicators are liabilities exceed assets (negative equity), trading below $1 and deep share-price drawdown. In its favour: operating cash flow is positive over the latest 12 months.
Stress by dimension
Share price — last 12 months
Indicators behind the score
Each red flag shows the evidence from the company’s own filings and the financial or legal principle behind it. Points add to the 0–100 score.
Total liabilities are 1.18× total assets.
Balance-sheet insolvency test: debts exceeding the fair value of assets is the statutory definition of 'insolvent' in 11 U.S.C. §101(32).
Last price $0.99.
Below the $1 minimum-bid listing standard (Nasdaq Rule 5550(a)(2) / NYSE 802.01C); sustained breach leads to delisting and loss of capital-market access.
Price is -63% from its 52-week high.
For financial firms a share-price run often precedes a deposit or funding run (confidence channel).
Operating margin fell from 18% to -1% in two years.
Sharp margin compression signals loss of pricing power or cost control.
Revenue declined every year for three years.
Structural, not cyclical, decline.
Recurring net losses.
Repeated losses are a core input in both Ohlson and Altman failure models.
Revenue vs net income
Cash generation
Debt vs cash vs equity
✅ Mitigating factors
- Operating cash flow is positive over the latest 12 months.
📰 Recent news scan
- Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU) - Stock Analysis - Simply Wall StreetGoogle News · 2026-10-06
- Optimum Communications (OPTU) Stock Trades Up, Here Is Why - Yahoo FinanceGoogle News · 2026-10-06
- Lake Charles groups will receive $4,000 as Optimum holds a week of community events - Stock TitanGoogle News · 2026-10-05
- 3 Unprofitable Stocks That Concern Us - StockStoryGoogle News · 2026-10-05
- Optimum Communications, Inc. Class A common stock (NYSE:OPTU) Stock Quote - FinancialContentGoogle News · 2026-10-02
- OPTU Stock Gets Reduced EPS Estimate from Zacks Research - MarketBeatGoogle News · 2026-10-02
⚖️ U.S. legal pathway — Title 11, U.S. Code
Which chapter would apply?
- Chapter 11 — reorganisation. Management usually stays in control as debtor-in-possession; the automatic stay (§362) halts collection; a plan must meet the best-interests test (§1129(a)(7)) and the absolute priority rule (§1129(b)) — creditors are paid before shareholders, who are frequently wiped out.
- Chapter 7 — liquidation. A trustee sells assets and distributes proceeds by statutory priority (§§507, 726).
- Subchapter V (“Chapter 5”) is a fast track for small-business debtors under a statutory debt cap, but SEC-reporting companies are excluded (§101(51D)) — so it rarely applies to listed companies.
What typically triggers a filing
- Payment default or covenant breach lenders will not waive; a debt maturity that cannot be refinanced.
- Auditor going-concern doubt (ASC 205-40 / PCAOB AS 2415) — often itself a default trigger in loan agreements.
- Creditors can force a case with an involuntary petition (§303) if debts are not paid as they come due.
- Delisting after sustained sub-$1 prices or equity deficits cuts off equity funding.
Transactions shortly before filing can be clawed back (preferences — 90 days, §547; fraudulent transfers — 2 years, §548).
Frequently asked questions
What do Optimum Communications, Inc.'s financial-health indicators show?
As of 2026-10-08, Optimum Communications, Inc.'s public financial data places it in the 'Watch' band with a distress score of 46/100, driven by liabilities exceed assets (negative equity), trading below $1 and deep share-price drawdown. This is a statistical screen of reported numbers — it does not mean the company is insolvent, has defaulted or will enter insolvency proceedings.
What is Optimum Communications, Inc.'s financial distress score?
46/100 ('Watch').
What works in Optimum Communications, Inc.'s favour?
Operating cash flow is positive over the latest 12 months.
How are shareholders treated if a company enters insolvency?
In a Chapter 11 reorganisation the absolute priority rule pays secured lenders, then unsecured creditors, before shareholders — so existing shares are usually cancelled or heavily diluted. In Chapter 7 the company is liquidated and shareholders rarely recover anything.
Other Telecom & Media companies with distress indicators
- FreeCast, Inc. (CAST)Very weak 100/100
- Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (DRCT)Very weak 100/100
- K Wave Media Ltd. (KWM)Very weak 100/100
- Reading International, Inc. (RDIB)Very weak 100/100
- SurgePays, Inc. (SURG)Very weak 100/100
- Upexi, Inc. (UPXI)Very weak 100/100
Methodology
Score = capped sum of rule-based red flags across seven dimensions (liquidity, solvency, profitability, cash flow, sales trend, market signal, news). Ohlson O-score (1980) gives an accounting-based 1-year failure probability; Merton distance-to-default (Bharath & Shumway 2008) gives a market-implied probability. Financial institutions use a capital-based rule set. Recalculated every trading day from the latest filings, prices and news.