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Crown Castle (CCI) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) closed at $135.22 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.13% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.05%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.02%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.66%.

Heading into today, shares of the operator of wireless communications towers had gained 9.02% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's loss of 0.73% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.08% in that time.

CCI will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.28, down 2.29% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.43 billion, up 7.29% from the prior-year quarter.

CCI's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.88 per share and revenue of $5.79 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +7.3% and +6.69%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for CCI. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. CCI currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, CCI is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.01. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.45.

Meanwhile, CCI's PEG ratio is currently 1.48. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. REIT and Equity Trust - Other stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 83, putting it in the top 33% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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