Crown Castle International (CCI)
NYSE:CCI
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Crown Castle
(NYSE:CCI)
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Rating:55Neutral
Price Target:
$91.00
▲(5.12% Upside)
Action:ReiteratedDate:02/26/26
CCI scores mid-range primarily due to mixed financial quality: strong cash generation is outweighed by declining revenue, earnings volatility, and balance-sheet risk (high debt and negative equity). Technicals are modestly improving but still weak over longer timeframes, while valuation is supported by a high dividend yield and a moderate P/E. Earnings-call guidance provides some support through planned deleveraging and cost/interest savings, but DISH-related headwinds and timing/legal uncertainty limit upside.
Positive Factors
Strong cash generation
Consistent, sizable operating cash flow and improving free cash flow provide durable internal funding for dividends, capex and debt reduction. This cash generation underpins management’s deleveraging and buyback plans and cushions the business through revenue volatility.
Negative Factors
Very high leverage and negative equity
Elevated absolute debt and negative equity materially weaken financial flexibility, increase refinancing and covenant risk, and constrain strategic options. High leverage amplifies sensitivity to interest rates and slows the pace at which cash generation can be redeployed to growth.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Strong cash generation
Consistent, sizable operating cash flow and improving free cash flow provide durable internal funding for dividends, capex and debt reduction. This cash generation underpins management’s deleveraging and buyback plans and cushions the business through revenue volatility.
Read all positive factors
Crown Castle (CCI) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$37.75B
Dividend Yield5.44%
Average Volume (3M)3.24M
Price to Earnings (P/E)87.1
Beta (1Y)0.07
Revenue Growth-26.56%
EPS Growth-369.24%
CountryUS
Employees1,500
SectorReal Estate
Sector Strength53
IndustryREIT - Specialty
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)0.67
Shares Outstanding436,070,430
10 Day Avg. Volume3,724,243
30 Day Avg. Volume3,235,242
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-0.78
Price to Book (P/B)-23.64
Price to Sales (P/S)9.06
P/FCF Ratio13.45
Enterprise Value/Market Cap1.76
Enterprise Value/Revenue15.55
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit23.54
Enterprise Value/Ebitda23.97
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$96.92Price Target Upside11.96% Upside
Rating ConsensusModerate Buy
Number of Analyst Covering14
EPS Forecast (FY)2.13
Revenue Forecast (FY)$4.06B
Crown Castle Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 80,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure...
How the Company Makes Money
Crown Castle generates revenue primarily through long-term leases with wireless carriers and other service providers who utilize its tower and fiber infrastructure. The company earns money from leasing space on its towers, which allows clients to ...
Crown Castle Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Revenue by Segment
Breaks down revenue across different business segments, revealing where the company is generating the most sales and potential areas for growth or concern.
Breaks down revenue across different business segments, revealing where the company is generating the most sales and potential areas for growth or concern.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyCrown Castle Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Feb 04, 2026
(Q4-2025)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Apr 22, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Neutral
The call balanced strong operational execution and disciplined capital allocation against significant near-term headwinds. Positives include exceeding full-year 2025 guidance, a pending $8.5 billion small cell and fiber sale (with DOJ clearance of HSR), a clear plan to repay debt (~$7B) and repurchase shares (~$1B), targeted $65 million of annualized cost savings, maintained dividend policy, and projected interest savings that support AFFO post-close. Offsetting those strengths are a major adverse development with DISH — contract default, litigation, and removal of DISH revenue (material churn of roughly $120M–$220M cited) — which drove a downward revision to AFFO guidance and creates legal and timing uncertainty. The company believes 2026 is a trough in organic growth and expects improvement thereafter, but near-term execution and recovery depend on the timing of the sale close and legal outcomes with DISH.Positive Updates
Exceeded Full-Year 2025 Guidance
Full-year 2025 results exceeded the midpoint across all key metrics. Organic growth was 4.9% (excluding Sprint churn). Site rental revenues finished near the high end of guidance and adjusted EBITDA and FFO exceeded the high end due to revenue outperformance, higher services contribution, efficiency initiatives and lower interest expense.
Negative Updates
DISH Contract Default and Material Revenue Loss
DISH defaulted on payment obligations; Crown Castle terminated the agreement and is seeking to recover in excess of $3.5 billion in remaining payments. Management excluded DISH from 2026 guidance, which they said results in approximately $220 million of churn in full-year 2026; elsewhere the transcript cites ~$120 million of DISH-related site rental impact. DISH removal materially reduced expected contributions — the original near-term DISH contribution was cited around $280 million in earlier planning.
Read all updates
Q4-2025 Updates
Positive
Negative
Exceeded Full-Year 2025 Guidance
Full-year 2025 results exceeded the midpoint across all key metrics. Organic growth was 4.9% (excluding Sprint churn). Site rental revenues finished near the high end of guidance and adjusted EBITDA and FFO exceeded the high end due to revenue outperformance, higher services contribution, efficiency initiatives and lower interest expense.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Crown Castle’s 2026 guidance targets a midpoint of $3.9B site rental revenues, $2.7B adjusted EBITDA and $1.9B AFFO, and reflects material adjustments: exclusion of DISH (causing ~$220M of 2026 churn and Crown pursuing recovery in excess of $3.5B), an assumed June 30, 2026 close of the small‑cell & fiber sale, and $65M of annualized run‑rate cost reductions (≈$55M in 2026, $10M in 2027) tied to a ~20% workforce reduction to ~1,250 FTEs; organic growth at the midpoint is guided to 3.3% (≈$130M) excluding Sprint and DISH (3.5% if prior‑year DISH is excluded) versus a comparable 3.8% in 2025, management expects a $110M decrease in site rental billings (including ~$120M DISH churn, $20M Sprint cancellations and a $90M decline in straight‑line/prepaid rent amortization) to be more than offset by $25M expense reductions (driven by $50M run‑rate savings partially offset by base increases), $5M higher service contribution, ~$120M lower interest expense from repaying ~ $7B of ~4% debt, and $25M lower amortization—yielding an expected ~$15M increase in 2026 AFFO versus 2025; post‑sale priorities: allocate ~ $1B to buybacks and ~ $7B to debt repayment, maintain a $4.25 annualized dividend until reaching a 75–80% AFFO payout ratio (ex‑prepaid rent amortization), target leverage of 6.0x–6.5x, and run $150M–$250M of annual net capex.Crown Castle Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
52
Neutral
Balance Sheet
28
Negative
Cash Flow
72
Positive
| Breakdown | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | |||||
| Total Revenue | 4.26B | 6.57B | 6.98B | 6.99B | 6.34B |
| Gross Profit | 2.82B | 4.72B | 5.00B | 4.92B | 4.35B |
| EBITDA | 2.77B | -1.24B | 4.10B | 4.07B | 3.46B |
| Net Income | 444.00M | -3.90B | 1.50B | 1.68B | 1.10B |
Balance Sheet | |||||
| Total Assets | 31.52B | 32.74B | 38.53B | 38.92B | 39.04B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 269.00M | 119.00M | 105.00M | 156.00M | 292.00M |
| Total Debt | 29.57B | 29.61B | 28.81B | 27.96B | 27.01B |
| Total Liabilities | 33.15B | 32.87B | 32.15B | 31.47B | 30.78B |
| Stockholders Equity | -1.64B | -133.00M | 6.38B | 7.45B | 8.26B |
Cash Flow | |||||
| Free Cash Flow | 2.88B | 1.72B | 1.70B | 1.57B | 1.50B |
| Operating Cash Flow | 3.06B | 2.94B | 3.13B | 2.88B | 2.73B |
| Investing Cash Flow | -1.16B | -1.22B | -1.52B | -1.35B | -1.33B |
| Financing Cash Flow | -1.89B | -1.71B | -1.65B | -1.67B | -1.31B |
Crown Castle Technical Analysis
Positive
86.57
Price Trends
84.93
Positive
86.14
Positive
91.28
Negative
Market Momentum
-1.01
Negative
57.36
Neutral
73.43
Neutral
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For CCI, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 86.57 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 83.47, above the 50-day MA of 84.93, and below the 200-day MA of 91.28, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of -1.01 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 57.36 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 73.43 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for CCI.
Crown Castle Risk Analysis
Crown Castle disclosed 30 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Crown Castle reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Crown Castle Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (65)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
74 Outperform | $99.83B | 55.55 | 9.59% | 2.47% | 5.36% | -1.68% | |
65 Neutral | $2.17B | 12.19 | 3.79% | 4.94% | 3.15% | 1.96% | |
64 Neutral | $82.10B | 32.56 | 68.13% | 3.76% | -5.33% | 163.89% | |
59 Neutral | $2.46B | 1.02 | -132.88% | ― | 38.93% | 952.55% | |
58 Neutral | $30.87B | 169.47 | -17.37% | 3.98% | 10.88% | 51.13% | |
57 Neutral | $22.47B | 19.68 | -21.40% | 2.31% | 4.82% | 25.24% | |
55 Neutral | $37.75B | 87.07 | -30.82% | 5.44% | -26.56% | -369.24% |
* Real Estate Sector Average
CCI
Crown Castle
86.57
-3.99
-4.41%
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Crown Castle Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board ChangesDividends
Crown Castle Aligns Executive Incentives and Declares Dividend
Positive
Feb 25, 2026
On February 25, 2026, Crown Castle’s board approved a 2026 EMT Annual Incentive Plan that ties executive management cash bonuses, including those of President and CEO Christian H. Hillabrant, to specified corporate financial performance goal...
Business Operations and StrategyDividendsFinancial DisclosuresM&A Transactions
Crown Castle Launches Major Restructuring and Cost-Saving Plan
Negative
Feb 4, 2026
On February 4, 2026, Crown Castle launched a restructuring plan to streamline its towers and corporate operations, cutting roughly 20% of its headcount in continuing operations and targeting about $65 million in annualized operating cost savings a...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.