SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC) reported Q3 EPS of $0.20, $0.26 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.46. Revenue for the quarter came in at $486.8 million versus the consensus estimate of $516.06 million.

Highlights of the third quarter include:

• Net income of $22.6 million or $0.20 per share and site leasing revenue of $486.8 million
• AFFO per share growth of 15.3% over the year earlier period on a constant currency basis
• Repurchased 1.0 million shares cumulatively in the third quarter and subsequent to quarter end
• Increased full year 2020 outlook for Revenue, Tower Cash Flow, Adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO

“We once again delivered strong financial results in the third quarter, exceeding both our internal and consensus expectations,” commented Jeff Stoops, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We delivered these results while continuing to operate in COVID-19 conditions in all of our markets, with the majority of our and our customers’ employees working remotely but also with a sizeable contingent of essential field personnel out at tower sites every day meeting the needs of our customers and getting the job done in exemplary fashion. I want to express my deepest gratitude to all our employees and those of our customers, and particularly those out in the field. I’m particularly pleased with the safety protocols we have developed, which have allowed us to make individual safety the top priority while at the same time delivering the operational performance our customers and communities need and expect.”

“US wireless customer activity picked up in the third quarter relative to the first half of 2020, although still slightly behind year-ago levels. This was evident from our services results and new domestic lease activity, as all three US nationwide wireless carriers were and are active. Internationally, leasing activity was slightly above the first half of the year as well, but these markets continue to be more impacted by COVID-19 than the US market, both operationally and economically. We are encouraged by the third quarter earnings commentary of a number of our international wireless carrier customers, who reported both improved financial results and future plans for increased capital spending. We remain confident that these markets will improve in terms of wireless carrier investment as the COVID-19 situation improves.”

“Operationally, we continue to perform very well and run a very tight ship, as evidenced by our Tower Cash Flow and Adjusted EBITDA margins. We made what we believe were some very positive and opportunistic balance sheet and capital allocation decisions since our last release. These included re-pricing an interest rate hedge to reduce future cash interest expense, repurchasing a healthy amount of our stock and investment in a number of new high-quality assets. The net result of these actions and our operational performance was to post our highest AFFO per share ever in the third quarter, with the fourth quarter AFFO per share expected to be even higher. We are raising our full year Outlook for 2020 across all key metrics, reflecting these strong third quarter results and our optimism for a strong finish to the year.”

GUIDANCE:

SBA Communications sees FY2020 revenue of $2.065-2.085 billion, versus the consensus of $2.07 billion.

The Company is updating its full year 2020 Outlook for anticipated results. The Outlook provided is based on a number of assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable at the time of this press release. Information regarding potential risks that could cause the actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements is set forth below and in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Company’s full year 2020 Outlook assumes the acquisitions of only those communication sites under contract and anticipated to close at the time of this press release. The Company may spend additional capital in 2020 on acquiring revenue producing assets not yet identified or under contract, the impact of which is not reflected in the 2020 guidance. The Outlook also does not contemplate any additional repurchases of the Company’s stock during 2020, although the Company may ultimately spend capital to repurchase some of its stock during the year.

The Company’s Outlook assumes an average foreign currency exchange rate of 5.65 Brazilian Reais to 1.0 U.S. Dollar, 1.33 Canadian Dollars to 1.0 U.S. Dollar, and 17.5 South African Rand to 1.0 U.S. Dollar throughout the fourth quarter of 2020. When compared to the Company’s full year 2020 Outlook provided August 3, 2020, the variances in the actual third quarter foreign currency exchange rates versus the Company’s assumptions, and the changes in the Company’s foreign currency rate assumptions for the remainder of the year, negatively impacted the 2020 full year Outlook by the amounts indicated in the chart below.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on SBA Communications (SBAC) click here.