Telecommunications provider Optimum last week acknowledged receiving a letter from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) warning its stock price had fallen below the $1 per share threshold necessary for listing on their exchange.
The company, which trades under the ticker symbol OPTU, said it received the notice on August 13 after the average closing price of its Class A common stock remained below $1 per share over a consecutive 30-trading-day period.
They NYSE requires companies to maintain an active share price of at least $1 in order to qualify for trading on their exchange, though publicly-traded entities have some wiggle room for price fluctuations based on market conditions, hence the consecutive 30-day threshold.
Optimum said the notice has no immediate effect on the listing of its Class A common stock, provided the company continues to satisfy other NYSE listing requirements. The notice also does not affect Optimum’s business operations or its reporting obligations with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The company has six months from the date it received the notice to regain compliance. Under NYSE rules, Optimum can satisfy the requirement during the cure period if its Class A common stock closes at or above $1 on the final trading day of any calendar month and averages at least $1 over the 30 trading days ending on that date.
Optimum said its stock price could be removed from the NYSE by mid-February of next year if it doesn’t regain compliance. The company may pursue an action requiring stockholder approval to cure the price condition. In that case, Optimum would need to notify the NYSE, obtain approval no later than its next annual meeting and implement the action promptly afterward.
Some media companies have chosen to restore their compliance by engaging in reverse stock splits, where several shares of their common stock are combined in order to bring their price well above the $1 point. Radio broadcaster Audacy did so in 2023 after receiving a warning from NASDAQ, which has similar compliance requirements. Streaming service Fubo did something similar, executing a reverse stock split in March before its per-share price could trigger a non-compliance warning.
It wasn’t clear if Optimum was considering a reverse stock split, though the company could opt for a different strategy like trading via an exchange with a lower threshold for compliance or selling its stock over-the-counter.
Optimum is one of the country’s largest broadband, video, mobile and advertising services providers. The company serves about 4.2 million residential and business customers across 21 states and operates the News 12 local news brand in the New York Tri-State Area.
In its most-recent earnings disclosure, Optimum reported a near-6 percent decline in total revenue based largely on customer disconnects in its broadband and pay television products. The company logged a net loss of $282.1 million on revenue of $2.02 billion.
