Optimum Communications, Inc. (OPTU) — payout ratio, two ways
Fiscal year ending 2018-12-31 · sector Communications · payout ratios computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | 59.8% | Before capital spending, so it understates the payout that free cash flow shows. |
| Free cash flow | 110.7% | What is left after maintaining the business. |
No GAAP earnings figure is shown. This company does not report the inputs for it in its XBRL filings — capital expenditure, in particular, is often folded into a single investing total rather than tagged on its own. The figure is absent from the filings, not zero, and inventing one from a balance-sheet movement would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Spread between highest and lowest: 51 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 16 / 100 — Not covered. ? Peer standing 2/50Direction 0/30Stability 14/20
Free cash flow payout, last 3 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2018-12-31 | 110.7% |
| 2017-12-31 | 86.2% |
| 2016-12-31 | 65.4% |
Coverage has deteriorated three years running — 65.4% to 110.7% — and the dividend now exceeds what the basis that applies can fund.
Among the 27 communications companies here, only 4% pay out a larger share on this basis — this is at the demanding end.
The arithmetic
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $1,499.9m ÷ operating cash flow $2,508.3m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $1,499.9m ÷ (operating cash flow $2,508.3m − capex $1,153.6m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2021-02-12 · accession
0001628280-21-001975 - 10-K filed 2020-02-14 · accession
0001628280-20-001613
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Caveats on this company
- basis discarded as outside the sane band (distribution far larger than the year's income — usually a special dividend or a return of capital, not a payout ratio): earnings
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.