Crown Castle (CCI) Tops Q1 EPS by 4c, Revenues Beat; Maintains Outlook for 2019

Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) reported Q1 EPS of $0.44, $0.04 better than the analyst estimate of $0.40. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.43 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion.

"In the first quarter, we delivered solid results that were in line with our expectations, positioning us well to generate attractive growth in cash flows and dividends per share for the full year 2019," stated Jay Brown, Crown Castle’s Chief Executive Officer. "This continued growth reflects the strong fundamentals we see across our business, including our major customers spending to improve their current networks while beginning to invest in 5G. We are excited about the opportunity we see to leverage our unmatched portfolio of more than 40,000 towers and 70,000 route miles of dense, high capacity fiber located in the top U.S. markets where we see the greatest long-term demand. We continue to believe our ability to offer towers, small cells and fiber solutions, which are all integral components of communications networks and are shared among multiple tenants, provides us the best opportunity to generate significant growth while delivering high returns for our shareholders. Further, we believe that the U.S. is the best market for communications infrastructure ownership, and we are pursuing that compelling opportunity with our comprehensive offering. With this positive momentum across our towers and fiber segments, we remain focused on investing in our business to generate future growth and delivering dividend per share growth of 7% to 8% per year."

• Site rental revenues. Site rental revenues grew approximately 6%, or $66 million, from first quarter 2018 to first quarter 2019, inclusive of approximately $65 million in Organic Contribution to Site Rental Revenues and a $1 million increase in straight-lined revenues. The $65 million in Organic Contribution to Site Rental Revenues represents approximately 5.7% growth, comprised of approximately 9.5% growth from new leasing activity and contracted tenant escalations, net of approximately 3.8% from tenant non-renewals.
• Net income. Net income for the first quarter 2019 was $210 million, compared to $114 million during the same period a year ago.
• Capital expenditures. Capital expenditures during the quarter were $480 million, comprised of $15 million of land purchases, $21 million of sustaining capital expenditures, $442 million of revenue generating capital expenditures and $2 million of integration capital expenditures. The revenue generating capital expenditures of $442 million includes $344 million attributable to Fiber and $98 million attributable to Towers.
• Common stock dividend. During the quarter, Crown Castle paid common stock dividends of $1.125 per common share, an increase of approximately 7% on a per share basis compared to the same period a year ago.
• Financing activities. In February, Crown Castle issued $1.0 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes, with net proceeds from the offering used to repay outstanding borrowings under its existing revolving credit facility. In addition, in April, Crown Castle established an unsecured commercial paper program ("CP Program"). Amounts available under the CP Program may be borrowed, repaid and re-borrowed from time to time, with the principal amount outstanding at any time not to exceed $1.0 billion.

"We are excited about the positive long-term industry fundamentals that are creating significant demand for our communications infrastructure, which is translating into the higher levels of new leasing activity we are experiencing this year across our tower and fiber assets," stated Dan Schlanger, Crown Castle's Chief Financial Officer. "With our recent financing activities, we believe we are well positioned to continue to invest in our business and create significant value for our shareholders by leveraging our leading portfolio of towers and high-capacity fiber assets."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Crown Castle (CCI) click here.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Alphabet (GOOGL) soars 16% on Q1 results beat, first-ever dividend
• SPS Commerce (SPSC) Tops Q1 EPS by 12c
• IBM tumbles on soft Q1 revenue; announces HashiCorp $6.4bn acquisition