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4 Reasons Why You Should Add SBAC Stock to Your Portfolio Now

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Key Takeaways

  • SBAC benefits from rising mobile data use as carriers invest heavily in network upgrades and expansion.
  • SBA Communications relies on long-term tower leases, supporting stable revenues and high operating margins.
  • SBAC expanded its portfolio with 447 sites acquired and 151 towers built, with more sites under contract.

SBA Communications' (SBAC - Free Report) portfolio is well-positioned to gain from wireless carriers’ high capital spending for network expansion amid growth in mobile data usage. The long-term leases with its tenants assure stable revenues. Also, portfolio expansion moves, domestically and internationally, are encouraging.

In the past three months, shares of this communications real estate investment trust (REIT) company have declined 4.3% compared with the industry's fall of 0.7%. However, analysts seem positive about this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SBAC’s 2025 and 2026 funds from operations (FFO) per share has moved 2.2% and 3.3% northward over the past two months to $12.89 and $12.86, respectively. Given its solid fundamentals and positive estimate revisions, the stock is likely to keep performing well in the quarters ahead.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Factors That Make SBA Communications Stock a Solid Pick

Robust Market Demand: Rapid advances in mobile technology and the surge in data-heavy applications are driving global growth in mobile data usage. Rising smartphone penetration, expanding broadband needs and worldwide 5G rollouts are pushing wireless carriers to add equipment and upgrade networks to improve coverage and capacity. This environment is boosting demand for SBA Communications’ wireless infrastructure. As consumer data usage continues to rise, the company’s extensive infrastructure portfolio is well-positioned to benefit from this positive, long-term trend.

Resilient Business Model: SBA Communications has a resilient and stable site-leasing business model. The company generates most of its revenues from long-term (typically 5-15 year) tower leases. With high operating margins, its tower-leasing business remains attractive. Wireless service providers continue to lease additional antenna space on the company’s towers amid the increase in network use, data transfer, network expansion and network coverage requirements. 

During the remainder of 2025, management expects core leasing revenues in both its domestic and international segments to increase over the 2024 levels on a currency-neutral basis. This is due in part to wireless carriers deploying unused spectrum, and revenues from towers acquired and built during 2024 and 2025 and expected to be acquired and built during 2025.

Expansion Efforts: As the company continues to expand its tower portfolio and seek new growth opportunities, it focuses on business expansion into domestic and select international markets with high growth characteristics. In the third quarter, SBA Communications acquired 447 communication sites, including Milicom’s 446 sites, for a total cash consideration of $142.8 million. The company also built 151 towers during this period. SBA Communications spent $8.9 million to purchase land and easements and extend lease terms. 

As of Nov. 3, 2025, SBA Communications is under contract to buy 78 communication sites for a total consideration of $66.9 million in cash, which is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2026. Such portfolio expansion efforts will position SBA Communications to leverage secular trends in mobile data usage and wireless spending growth across the globe.

Dividend Payment: Solid dividend payouts are arguably the biggest enticements for REIT shareholders, and SBA Communications remains committed to that. The company has increased its dividend five times in the last five years, and its five-year annualized dividend growth rate is 18.52%. Given SBAC’s solid operating platform, decent financial position and lower-than-industry dividend payout rate, the dividend distribution is expected to be sustainable over the long run.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Digital Realty Trust (DLR - Free Report) and Cousins Properties (CUZ - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Digital Realty’s 2025 FFO per share is pegged at $7.35, which indicates year-over-year growth of 9.5%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cousins Properties’ full-year FFO per share stands at $2.84, which calls for an increase of 5.6% from the year-ago period.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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