Crown Castle Inc. CCI reported third-quarter 2026 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share of $1.24, up 10.7% year over year. The metric surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.20 by 3.3%. Results benefited from lower interest expenses.
Quarterly revenues of $995 million declined 7.2% year over year and missed the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion by 1.4%. The decline was due to lower site rental revenues and services revenues.
CCI Site Rental Revenues Face Tenant Headwinds
Site rental revenues were $966 million, down 4.5% year over year. The decline reflected a $61 million unfavorable impact from DISH terminations, a $5 million impact from Sprint cancellations and a $17 million decrease in non-cash straight-lined revenues and amortization of prepaid rent.
Organic Contribution to Site Rental Billings, adjusted for DISH terminations and Sprint cancellations, totaled $35 million, representing 3.5% growth. Excluding DISH revenues from the prior-year comparison, organic growth was 3.8%. The adjusted metric included $16 million from core leasing activity, $25 million from escalators and a $7 million drag from non-renewals.
Services and other revenues fell to $29 million from $60 million in the prior-year quarter, further weighing on the company's overall revenue performance.
CCI’s EBITDA Declines Despite Cost Savings
Adjusted EBITDA was $673 million, down 6.3% from $718 million in the prior-year quarter. Management attributed the decrease primarily to lower contributions from site rental revenues and services, partially offset by reduced selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses.
SG&A expenses declined to $82 million from $97 million. Interest expense and amortization of deferred financing costs declined to $177 million from $247 million.
CCI Capital Spending Rises on Land Acquisitions
Capital expenditures from continuing operations totaled $66 million, up 57.1% year over year. The total included $58 million of discretionary capital expenditures and $8 million of sustaining capital expenditures.
The increase was primarily driven by a $24 million rise in land capital expenditures. Purchases of land interests reached $40 million compared with $16 million in the prior-year quarter.
CCI Maintains a Strong Balance Sheet
Crown Castle ended the third quarter with 97% fixed-rate debt and a weighted-average debt maturity of approximately seven years. The company had roughly $3.9 billion available under its revolving credit facility.
CCI also paid approximately $452 million in common stock dividends during the third quarter, equivalent to $1.0625 per share.
CCI Raises Its 2026 AFFO and EBITDA Outlook
Crown Castle raised the midpoint of its full-year 2026 AFFO outlook by $5 million. The company now expects AFFO between $1.955 billion and $2.005 billion compared with its previous range of $1.950-$2.000 billion. AFFO per share is projected between $4.54 and $4.66. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pinned at $4.57 presently.
The site rental revenue outlook was raised by $20 million at the midpoint to a range of $3.853-$3.898 billion. Adjusted EBITDA guidance was increased $25 million at the midpoint to $2.690-$2.740 billion.
Crown Castle currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Crown Castle Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Crown Castle Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Crown Castle Inc. Quote
Performance of Other REITs
Prologis, Inc. PLD reported third-quarter 2026 core funds from operations (FFO) of $1.60 per share, up 7.4% from $1.49 a year earlier. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.58 by 1.3%.
Rental revenues rose 7.4% year over year to $2.21 billion, exceeding the $2.20 billion consensus estimate by 0.2%. Results benefited from higher rental revenues, steady leasing demand and improved occupancy levels. PLD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.
Upcoming Earnings Release
We now look forward to the earnings release of other REITs, such as American Tower AMT, which is slated to report on Oct. 27, 2026.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMT’s third-quarter 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $2.84, which suggests a year-over-year increase of 2.2%. AMT currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).