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Crown Castle
(NYSE:CCI)
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Rating:56Neutral
Price Target:
$68.00
▼(-10.87% Downside)
Action:Reiterated
Date:08/06/26
The score is driven primarily by mixed fundamentals: strong cash flow and healthy margins are offset by a highly pressured balance sheet (high debt and negative equity) and uneven growth/earnings history. The latest earnings call was a positive support—deleveraging progress, improved contracted visibility, and a small AFFO raise—but technicals remain weak with the stock trading below key longer-term moving averages. Valuation is balanced by a high dividend yield but an elevated P/E.
Positive Factors
Pure-play tower focus
The strategic shift concentrates management and capital on the company’s tower platform, simplifying the business model and reducing exposure to lower-priority operations. A focused portfolio may improve execution, operational efficiency, and the ability to capture long-term wireless network demand.
Negative Factors
High leverage and negative equity
Despite recent debt repayment, Crown Castle still carries very large debt and has a negative equity position, leaving a thin balance-sheet cushion. This can constrain financial flexibility, increase refinancing considerations, and limit the company’s ability to absorb operating setbacks without relying on capital-market access.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Pure-play tower focus
The strategic shift concentrates management and capital on the company’s tower platform, simplifying the business model and reducing exposure to lower-priority operations. A focused portfolio may improve execution, operational efficiency, and the ability to capture long-term wireless network demand.
Read all positive factors
Crown Castle Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Revenue by Segment
Breaks down revenue across different business segments, revealing where the company is generating the most sales and potential areas for growth or concern.
Breaks down revenue across different business segments, revealing where the company is generating the most sales and potential areas for growth or concern.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyCrown Castle (CCI) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$28.27B
Dividend Yield6.4%
Average Volume (3M)3.13M
Price to Earnings (P/E)26.9
Beta (1Y)0.11
Revenue Growth-23.24%
EPS GrowthN/A
CountryUS
Employees1,500
SectorReal Estate
Sector Strength53
IndustryREIT - Specialty
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)2.47
Shares Outstanding425,455,440
10 Day Avg. Volume3,827,789
30 Day Avg. Volume3,133,881
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-0.78
Price to Book (P/B)-23.64
Price to Sales (P/S)9.06
P/FCF Ratio13.45
Enterprise Value/Market Cap<0.01
Enterprise Value/Revenue<0.01
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit<0.01
Enterprise Value/Ebitda<0.01
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$92.92Price Target Upside21.80% Upside
Rating ConsensusModerate Buy
Number of Analyst Covering15
EPS Forecast (FY)1.93
Revenue Forecast (FY)$4.04B
Crown Castle Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Crown Castle Inc. specializes in critical digital infrastructure across the United States. The company actively manages, operates, and leases an expansive network, featuring over 40,000 cellular communication towers and approximately 80,000 miles ...
How the Company Makes Money
Crown Castle primarily makes money by leasing access to its communications infrastructure under multi-year contracts, generating recurring, contract-based revenue. Its key revenue streams include: (1) Tower leasing: wireless carriers place antenna...
Crown Castle Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Jul 22, 2026
(Q2-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Oct 21, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call conveyed a constructive strategic and financial reset: management completed the sale to become a focused U.S. tower operator, materially strengthened the balance sheet with $8.4B of proceeds used to retire >$7B of debt and repurchase $1B of shares, improved contracted revenue visibility (>90%), and modestly raised AFFO guidance. At the same time, the company faces clear near-term headwinds from DISH terminations and Sprint cancellations, weaker services activity (impacting Q3), non-recurring interest income benefits, and uncertainty around recovery from the DISH/EchoStar bankruptcy escrow. Overall, the operational and capital-structure wins and growth drivers (edge compute, spectrum auctions, mobile data growth) outweigh the near-term revenue and services pressures, but certain risks (bankruptcy recoveries, services cadence) remain.Positive Updates
Completed strategic sale and transformation to pure-play U.S. tower operator
On May 1 completed sale of small cell and fiber businesses, making Crown Castle the only publicly traded pure-play U.S. tower operator and enabling strategic focus on towers and operational transformation.
Negative Updates
DISH terminations and Sprint cancellations impacted revenue
Second quarter site rental revenues were reduced by $49 million of DISH terminations and $5 million of Sprint cancellations; management cited a combined ~ $240 million DISH + Sprint headwind for the full year with backend timing contributing to second-half impact.
Read all updates
Q2-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Completed strategic sale and transformation to pure-play U.S. tower operator
On May 1 completed sale of small cell and fiber businesses, making Crown Castle the only publicly traded pure-play U.S. tower operator and enabling strategic focus on towers and operational transformation.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Crown Castle updated its 2026 guidance on the Q2 call by raising full‑year site rental revenue guidance $5 million at the midpoint while keeping adjusted EBITDA unchanged, driving a $5 million increase to full‑year AFFO (largely from a $5 million reduction in interest expense); management expects a $15 million net cost reduction (about $10M lower site rental cost of operations and $5M lower SG&A, ex stock‑based comp) offset by a $20 million decline in services contribution, straight‑line revenues are unchanged at negative $60 million (midpoint), and full‑year organic growth is now 3.4% (vs prior 3.3%) excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations (3.6% if DISH is excluded from prior year vs prior 3.5%); Q2 organic growth was 3.9% ($38M) — 4.2% excluding prior‑year DISH (3.6% ex other billings) — despite Q2 headwinds of $5M Sprint cancellations, $49M DISH terminations and a $25M decline in noncash straight‑line/amortization. The company received $8.4B net proceeds on May 1, used $1B to repurchase >11M shares at an average $88.66 (reducing annual dividend obligation by $47M) and repaid >$7B of debt (bringing leverage to 6.3x net debt/EBITDA within the 6.0–6.5x target), reduced revolver capacity to $4.5B, left discretionary CapEx at $200M ($160M net of $40M prepaid rent), said >90% of 2026 organic growth is now contracted (vs ~80% at the start of the year), reiterated being on track for H2‑2026/H1‑2027 AFFO of $2.1B (midpoint), and reiterated plans to pursue a multi‑hundred‑basis‑point EBITDA margin expansion through ground‑lease buyouts and transformation initiatives.Crown Castle Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
56
Neutral
Balance Sheet
22
Negative
Cash Flow
68
Positive
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 4.16B | 4.26B | 6.57B | 6.98B | 6.99B | 6.34B |
| Gross Profit | 2.63B | 2.82B | 4.72B | 5.00B | 4.92B | 4.35B |
| EBITDA | 2.71B | 2.77B | -1.24B | 4.10B | 4.07B | 3.46B |
| Net Income | 1.07B | 444.00M | -3.90B | 1.50B | 1.68B | 1.10B |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 21.51B | 31.52B | 32.74B | 38.53B | 38.92B | 39.04B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 1.04B | 269.00M | 119.00M | 105.00M | 156.00M | 292.00M |
| Total Debt | 23.40B | 29.57B | 29.61B | 28.81B | 27.96B | 27.01B |
| Total Liabilities | 24.78B | 33.15B | 32.87B | 32.15B | 31.47B | 30.78B |
| Stockholders Equity | -3.27B | -1.64B | -133.00M | 6.38B | 7.45B | 8.26B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 2.41B | 2.88B | 1.72B | 1.70B | 1.57B | 1.50B |
| Operating Cash Flow | 2.62B | 3.06B | 2.94B | 3.13B | 2.88B | 2.73B |
| Investing Cash Flow | 7.34B | -1.16B | -1.22B | -1.52B | -1.35B | -1.33B |
| Financing Cash Flow | -8.98B | -1.89B | -1.71B | -1.65B | -1.67B | -1.31B |
Crown Castle Technical Analysis
Negative
76.29
Price Trends
73.12
Negative
78.21
Negative
80.95
Negative
Market Momentum
-2.18
Positive
27.32
Positive
6.92
Positive
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For CCI, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 76.29 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 71.11, above the 50-day MA of 73.12, and below the 200-day MA of 80.95, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -2.18 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 27.32 is Positive, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 6.92 is Positive, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for CCI.
Crown Castle Risk Analysis
Crown Castle disclosed 31 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Crown Castle reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Crown Castle Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (65)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
68 Neutral | $75.58B | 22.28 | 90.23% | 4.36% | 6.65% | 163.52% | |
68 Neutral | $101.21B | 65.75 | 10.76% | 1.97% | 9.64% | 52.13% | |
65 Neutral | $2.17B | 12.19 | 3.79% | 4.94% | 3.15% | 1.96% | |
62 Neutral | $16.81B | 17.02 | -20.67% | 3.07% | 5.36% | 14.00% | |
62 Neutral | $1.95B | 1.60 | 270.16% | 21.81% | 199.70% | 2008.88% | |
59 Neutral | $33.76B | 80.99 | -38.42% | 3.05% | 17.37% | 898.02% | |
56 Neutral | $28.27B | 26.90 | -51.70% | 6.40% | -23.24% | ― |
* Real Estate Sector Average
CCI
Crown Castle
66.44
-22.95
-25.67%
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162.20
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SBAC
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158.49
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UNIT
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8.04
1.93
31.59%
Crown Castle Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board Changes
Crown Castle Announces Leadership Changes Amid Strategic Refocus
Neutral
Sep 14, 2026
On September 14, 2026, Crown Castle announced a leadership reshuffle as it continues its strategic focus on core telecom infrastructure. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cathy Piche will step down from the COO role on September...
Business Operations and StrategyDividends
Crown Castle Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend for Shareholders
Positive
Aug 5, 2026
Crown Castle Inc. announced on August 5, 2026, that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.0625 per common share. The dividend will be paid on September 30, 2026, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on Se...
Business Operations and StrategyFinancial DisclosuresM&A Transactions
Crown Castle Raises 2026 AFFO Outlook Amid Transformation
Positive
Jul 22, 2026
On July 22, 2026, Crown Castle reported its second-quarter 2026 results, showing site rental revenues of $967 million, down 4.1% from a year earlier, and net income of $94 million, a 68% decline, while adjusted EBITDA fell 4% to $675 million. Desp...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.