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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 the most recent trading day at $134.53, moving +0.28% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.63%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.53%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.54%.

Coming into today, shares of the operator of wireless communications towers had gained 1.89% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 0.06%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.07%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from CCI as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.49, up 4.93% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.48 billion, up 4.57% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.97 per share and revenue of $5.90 billion, which would represent changes of +8.94% and +8.79%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CCI. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. CCI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, CCI is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.46. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.82.

We can also see that CCI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.45. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.67 at yesterday's closing price.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 89, which puts it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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