Optical Cable Corp key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Optical Cable Corp had return on equity of -7.8%, an operating margin of -0.6%, debt equal to 49.5% of equity and a current ratio of 1.82. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Optical Cable Corp: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Oct 2009	2010Oct 2010	2011Oct 2011	2012Oct 2012	2013Oct 2013	2014Oct 2014	2015Oct 2015	2016Oct 2016	2017Oct 2017	2018Oct 2018	2019Oct 2019	2020Oct 2020	2021Oct 2021	2022Oct 2022	2023Oct 2023	2024Oct 2024	2025Oct 2025	LTMJul 2026
Gross margin	33.9%	35.2%	35.8%	37.8%	34.4%	34.3%	29.6%	30.5%	32.4%	31.7%	25.7%	25.5%	27.5%	29.7%	30.9%	27.3%	30.9%	34.3%
Operating margin	−4.8%	−8.1%	2.0%	5.3%	1.0%	1.6%	−3.2%	−1.9%	−2.1%	2.0%	−7.2%	−10.0%	−3.3%	0.7%	1.4%	−5.1%	−0.6%	4.2%
Net margin	−3.3%	−8.5%	0.9%	3.3%	−0.1%	0.8%	−5.8%	−2.8%	−2.7%	1.2%	−7.9%	−11.1%	11.2%	−0.5%	2.9%	−6.3%	−2.0%	3.1%
Free-cash-flow margin	3.6%	0.9%	1.2%	0.6%	0.7%	1.9%	−2.6%	3.9%	−1.9%	2.9%	−1.1%	−6.6%	3.3%	−2.7%	−1.3%	−1.8%	1.5%	0.5%
Return on equity	−5.8%	−18.8%	2.4%	9.3%	−0.1%	2.2%	−14.8%	−6.9%	−7.2%	4.2%	−23.6%	−33.5%	35.3%	−1.6%	8.8%	−18.5%	−7.8%	16.4%
Return on assets	—	−12.7%	1.5%	5.9%	−0.1%	1.4%	−9.0%	−4.2%	−4.3%	2.6%	−13.6%	−16.0%	17.8%	−0.9%	4.9%	−10.0%	−3.6%	6.0%
Asset turnover	—	1.49	1.63	1.80	1.62	1.74	1.55	1.51	1.59	2.11	1.71	1.44	1.59	1.76	1.71	1.58	1.82	1.95
Current ratio	—	3.95	3.85	4.39	6.59	3.80	5.17	6.38	6.46	4.42	2.16	4.04	4.47	4.17	2.18	2.02	1.82	2.17
Debt to equity	0.0%	30.0%	29.0%	26.1%	25.7%	24.2%	27.1%	28.0%	28.2%	23.9%	54.4%	34.7%	21.9%	28.6%	44.5%	52.5%	49.5%	43.0%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	n/m	n/m	2.4x	7.9x	1.6x	3.2x	n/m	n/m	n/m	2.9x	n/m	n/m	n/m	0.6x	0.9x	n/m	n/m	3.8x
Effective tax rate	—	—	46.5%	32.4%	—	30.1%	—	—	—	−1.6%	—	—	−0.3%	—	6.6%	—	—	−0.4%
R&D as % of revenue	—	1.5%	1.5%	1.6%	1.9%	1.7%	1.8%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
SG&A as % of revenue	38.1%	35.9%	34.3%	32.7%	33.2%	32.5%	32.7%	32.1%	34.3%	29.8%	32.9%	34.8%	30.8%	28.9%	29.4%	32.2%	31.4%	30.0%
Capital spending as % of revenue	1.2%	0.8%	2.0%	1.8%	4.0%	3.4%	4.3%	1.0%	0.8%	0.8%	0.7%	0.2%	0.3%	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.4%	0.6%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	—	—	129.0%	18.8%	—	228.6%	—	—	—	235.5%	—	—	29.5%	—	−44.4%	—	—	17.2%
Dividends ÷ net income	—	—	37.8%	13.0%	—	78.9%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	21.7%	66.6%	127.8%	296.4%	208.0%	47.0%	—	7.2%	—	0.1%	—	—	0.0%	—	—	—	—	—

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Optical Cable Corp: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Oct 2024	2025 Q1Jan 2025	2025 Q2Apr 2025	2025 Q3Jul 2025	2025 Q4Oct 2025	2026 Q1Jan 2026	2026 Q2Apr 2026	2026 Q3Jul 2026
Gross margin	33.5%	29.4%	30.4%	31.7%	31.9%	32.7%	34.2%	37.4%
Operating margin	3.4%	−5.4%	−2.4%	2.8%	1.4%	−1.3%	5.9%	8.7%
Net margin	1.9%	−7.0%	−4.0%	1.5%	0.2%	−2.4%	4.7%	7.6%
Free-cash-flow margin	−8.1%	16.5%	0.4%	−11.4%	3.6%	6.3%	−11.7%	5.3%
Current ratio	2.02	2.06	1.89	1.81	1.82	1.83	2.08	2.17
Debt to equity	12.6%	0.3%	13.6%	—	—	—	—	—
SG&A as % of revenue	30.0%	34.7%	32.7%	28.8%	30.4%	33.8%	28.2%	28.7%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

2 of 3 checks passed · July 31, 2026

What it owns · $45m

Short-term assets $36mLonger-term assets $9m

What it owes, and who funded it · $35m

Short-term liabilities $16mLonger-term liabilities $4mShareholders' equity $15m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $36m of assets due within a year against $16m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $36m short-term assets against $4m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt Cash or debt not separately reported. Not assessable.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Equity or debt not reported. Not assessable.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Five-year comparison not available. Not assessable.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt Cash flow or debt not reported. Not assessable.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $3m against $924,922 of interest.

From Optical Cable Corp's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

31 /100

Weak moat

How hard Optical Cable's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 0 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median -3.9% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 9 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 30.1%, moving by 3.6 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 10 / 20

Operating margin has been a median -0.6%; its worst year was -9.8%.
Cash conversion 5 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 5 of 10 years, at a median 0.1% of revenue.
Discipline 12 / 20

The diluted share count rose 15.4% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.7% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (36 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

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Figures from Optical Cable Corp's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Optical Cable Corp.