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Crown Castle (CCI) to Report Q2 Earnings: What to Expect?
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Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI - Free Report) is scheduled to release second-quarter 2018 results on Jul 18, after the closing bell. The company’s results will reflect year-over-year growth in funds from operations (FFO) per share as well as revenues.
The bottom line of this Houston-based real estate investment trust (REIT), which is engaged in operation of wireless communication towers in the United States, narrowly missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the previous quarter. Results were backed by 34.5% year-over year increase in site rental revenues that included organic growth, as well as contributions from acquisitions and other items.
Over the trailing three quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 5.9% in terms of FFO per share. This is depicted in the graph below:
Crown Castle International Corporation Price and EPS Surprise
Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.
Factors at Play
Crown Castle is well poised to benefit from its portfolio of shared communication infrastructure assets. Further, its strategically-located portfolio of more than 40,000 towers is expected to have witnessed strong leasing activity in the second quarter. This will likely drive organic growth for the company in the near term.
Also, increasing growth in mobile data consumption has been spurring demand for denser network of towers and small cells. Hence, the company’s continued efforts in repositioning itself from being a tower company to a fiber-fed small-cell provider is a strategic fit.
For the April-June quarter, site rental revenues from small cells are projected at $395 million, significantly up from the prior-year reported figure of $151 million. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s site rental revenues for towers is currently pegged at $766 million for the quarter, reflecting a projected increase of 6.7% year over year.
For the second quarter of 2018, Crown Castle expects site rental revenues of $1,153-$1,163 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for net site rental revenues is $1,161 million, denoting a projected increase of 0.7%, sequentially.
However, Crown Castle competes in a highly competitive wireless tower operator industry, with incumbents like American Tower Corp. (AMT - Free Report) and SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC - Free Report) . Consolidation in the wireless industry might reduce demand for cell-tower deployments and thus, Crown Castle’s top-line performance is expected to reflect its impact.
Prior to the second-quarter earnings release, there was lack of any solid catalyst for becoming overtly optimistic about the company’s business activities and prospects. As such, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of FFO per share for the to-be-reported quarter remained unchanged at $1.33 over the past 30 days.
Crown Castle’s shares have gained 4.2% compared with the industry’s rally of 6.1% in the past six months.
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model does not conclusively show that Crown Castle’s results will likely beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both — a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) — for this to happen. Unfortunately, that is not the case here as elaborated below.
You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with the Earnings ESP Filter.
Zacks ESP: Crown Castle has an Earnings ESP of +0.00%.
Zacks Rank: Crown Castle currently has a Zacks Rank of 3.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
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It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +21.9% in 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +115.0%, +109.3%, +104.9%, +98.6%, and +67.1%.
And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 19X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation.
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Crown Castle (CCI) to Report Q2 Earnings: What to Expect?
Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI - Free Report) is scheduled to release second-quarter 2018 results on Jul 18, after the closing bell. The company’s results will reflect year-over-year growth in funds from operations (FFO) per share as well as revenues.
The bottom line of this Houston-based real estate investment trust (REIT), which is engaged in operation of wireless communication towers in the United States, narrowly missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the previous quarter. Results were backed by 34.5% year-over year increase in site rental revenues that included organic growth, as well as contributions from acquisitions and other items.
Over the trailing three quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 5.9% in terms of FFO per share. This is depicted in the graph below:
Crown Castle International Corporation Price and EPS Surprise
Crown Castle International Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Crown Castle International Corporation Quote
Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.
Factors at Play
Crown Castle is well poised to benefit from its portfolio of shared communication infrastructure assets. Further, its strategically-located portfolio of more than 40,000 towers is expected to have witnessed strong leasing activity in the second quarter. This will likely drive organic growth for the company in the near term.
Also, increasing growth in mobile data consumption has been spurring demand for denser network of towers and small cells. Hence, the company’s continued efforts in repositioning itself from being a tower company to a fiber-fed small-cell provider is a strategic fit.
For the April-June quarter, site rental revenues from small cells are projected at $395 million, significantly up from the prior-year reported figure of $151 million. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s site rental revenues for towers is currently pegged at $766 million for the quarter, reflecting a projected increase of 6.7% year over year.
For the second quarter of 2018, Crown Castle expects site rental revenues of $1,153-$1,163 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for net site rental revenues is $1,161 million, denoting a projected increase of 0.7%, sequentially.
However, Crown Castle competes in a highly competitive wireless tower operator industry, with incumbents like American Tower Corp. (AMT - Free Report) and SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC - Free Report) . Consolidation in the wireless industry might reduce demand for cell-tower deployments and thus, Crown Castle’s top-line performance is expected to reflect its impact.
Prior to the second-quarter earnings release, there was lack of any solid catalyst for becoming overtly optimistic about the company’s business activities and prospects. As such, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of FFO per share for the to-be-reported quarter remained unchanged at $1.33 over the past 30 days.
Crown Castle’s shares have gained 4.2% compared with the industry’s rally of 6.1% in the past six months.
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model does not conclusively show that Crown Castle’s results will likely beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both — a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) — for this to happen. Unfortunately, that is not the case here as elaborated below.
You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with the Earnings ESP Filter.
Zacks ESP: Crown Castle has an Earnings ESP of +0.00%.
Zacks Rank: Crown Castle currently has a Zacks Rank of 3.
Stock to Consider
HCP, Inc. (HCP - Free Report) , slated to release second-quarter results on Aug 2, has an Earnings ESP of +0.66% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies
It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +21.9% in 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +115.0%, +109.3%, +104.9%, +98.6%, and +67.1%.
And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 19X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation.
See Them Free>>