Bulletin: Cable One Inc.'s Announced $450 Million Share Buyback Program Could Increase Leverage

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) May 27, 2022--S&P Global Ratings today said that Cable One Inc.'s (NYSE: CABO; BB/Stable/--) announced $450 million share buyback program will not affect our view of the company. On an S&P Global Ratings-adjusted basis, conservatively assuming the full amount authorized is repurchased in fiscal year 2022, leverage would increase to 3.7x from 3.3x. Our ratings are unchanged. We expect Cable One will use free operating cash flow to fund the share repurchases. The company had about $368 million cash as of March 31, 2022. This results in higher S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage because we net accessible cash against debt. We now expect leverage of about 3.8x-4.0x in 2023 following the company's purchase of the remaining

...May 27, 2022 NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) May 27, 2022--S&P Global Ratings today said that Cable One Inc.'s (NYSE: CABO; ##/Stable/--) announced $450 million share buyback program will not affect our view of the company. On an S&P Global Ratings-adjusted basis, conservatively assuming the full amount authorized is repurchased in fiscal year 2022, leverage would increase to 3.7x from 3.3x. Our ratings are unchanged. We expect Cable One will use free operating cash flow to fund the share repurchases. The company had about $368 million cash as of March 31, 2022. This results in higher S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage because we net accessible cash against debt. We now expect leverage of about 3.8x-4.0x in 2023 following the company's purchase of the remaining 55% stake in Vyve. Despite the potential for higher leverage as a result of share repurchases, we believe Cable One has enough cushion below our 4.75x downgrade threshold to maintain the rating. We continue to expect mid-single-digit...

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