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Crown Castle's Q3 AFFO Top Estimates, Site-Rental Revenues Rise

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Crown Castle Inc.’s (CCI - Free Report) third-quarter 2024 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share of $1.84 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.80. Net revenues of $1.65 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.64 billion.

Stay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.

AFFO per share reported a 4% increase year over year. However, net revenues fell marginally year over year.

 

Crown Castle Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Crown Castle Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Crown Castle Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Crown Castle Inc. Quote

 

Site-Rental Revenues Increase

CCI’s total site-rental revenues rose 1% year over year to $1.59 billion in the third quarter of 2024. The figure was higher than our estimate of $1.58 billion. The upside was driven by an increase in fiber segment site rental revenues.

Site-rental revenues in the towers segment declined 1% year over year to $1.06 billion. It was also lower than our estimate of $1.08 billion. The year-over-year decrease was due to lower amortization of prepaid rent and straight-lined revenues.

Site-rental revenues in the fiber segment increased 5.4% year over year to $530 million. It was higher than our estimate of $503.3 million. The rise was mainly due to the increase in site rental billings.

However, services and other revenues came in at $59 million, which plunged 34.4% from the prior-year quarter. However, it was higher than our estimate of $52.8 million.

Cost of Operations Fall

CCI’s quarterly site-rental cost of operations increased 2.4% year over year to $430 million. The figure was higher than our estimate of $421.1 million.

The company reported services and other cost of operations of $30 million in the quarter. It decreased 54.5% from the prior-year quarter. It was slightly lower than our estimate of $30.5 million.

Financial Position

Crown Castle exited the third quarter of 2024 with cash and cash equivalents of $194 million, up from $155 million reported as of June 30, 2024. Moreover, debt and other long-term obligations aggregated $23.45 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024, increasing 2.6% sequentially.

2024 Guidance

Crown Castle maintained its guidance for 2024 AFFO per share in the range of $6.91-$7.02. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $6.98, which is within the guided range.

Site rental revenues are expected to be between $6.317-$6.362 billion, while the adjusted EBITDA is estimated to be in the band of $4.143-$4.193 billion.

Crown Castle currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Upcoming Earnings Releases

We now look forward to the earnings releases of other REITs like Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE - Free Report) and Highwoods Properties (HIW - Free Report) , slated to report on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22, respectively. Meanwhile, Cousins Properties (CUZ - Free Report) is scheduled to report on Oct. 24.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Alexandria’s third-quarter 2024 FFO per share stands at $2.38, indicating a 5.3% rise year over year. ARE currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Highwoods’ third-quarter 2024 FFO per share is pegged at 88 cents, implying a 5.4% year-over-year decrease. HIW currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cousins Properties’ third-quarter 2024 FFO per share is pegged at 67 cents, which suggests a year-over-year increase of 3.1%. CUZ currently carries a Zacks Rank #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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