Wells downgrades Crown Castle on below-peer organic growth

Wells Fargo downgraded Crown Castle (CCI) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $85, down from $90. Wells says its analysis of tower fundamentals post the Q4 reports shows Crown Castle’s relative organic growth excluding Dish came in “meaningfully below” peers. This makes it “tougher to defend” the stock’s premium EBITDA multiple, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says Crown’s organic growth is 3% this year when including recurring Sprint churn, which is meaningfully below that of its peers in the 4% range.