Crown Castle Inc.
CCI · NYSE
CCI · NYSE
Iron Mountain Incorporated (Delaware)Common Stock REIT$114.38
Extra Space Storage Inc$156.23
AGNC Investment Corp. Depositary Shares Each Representing a 1/1,000th Interest in a Share of 7.00% Series C Fixed-To-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock$25.25
AGNC Investment Corp. Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/1,000th interest in a share of 6.50% Series E Fixed-to-Floating Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock$24.85Expected to report Feb 3, 2027 — estimated from last year’s reporting date.
Consensus is $1.16 EPS for Dec 2026 across 5 estimates, ranging $1.14 to $1.20.
Crown Castle’s third quarter was a transition quarter: the fiber and small-cells sale completed in May leaves the company focused on its roughly 40,000 U.S. towers, while DISH terminations continue to obscure underlying leasing growth. Revenue of $995 million declined 7.2% from $1.072 billion a year ago and 1.3% from Q2’s $1.008 billion. Operating income was $465 million, versus $525 million a year earlier and $470 million in Q2. GAAP diluted EPS was $0.67, down from $0.74 and above Q2’s $0.22; net income was $283 million, compared with $323 million and $94 million, respectively. The supplied consensus data says $1.24 versus $1.16, a 6.9% beat, but the release reports $1.24 as AFFO per share; GAAP diluted EPS was $0.67.
The underlying story was stronger than headline site-rental revenue: organic growth excluding Sprint and DISH effects was 3.5%, or 3.8% excluding prior-year DISH billings, while those customer-related reductions weighed on reported revenue. A $275 million customer agreement added term extensions and churn protections, and cost savings supported higher full-year guidance. Management left its view unchanged that 2026 is the low point for organic growth, while pointing to spectrum deployment and early-stage edge infrastructure as longer-term opportunities.
Crown Castle paid $275 million to acquire a residual economic interest in a subset of tower sites, extend the customer’s lease term and limit longer-term churn. Management characterized the arrangement as a simplification of the economics and a way to strengthen the customer relationship, rather than a purchase of future lease options. The company expects nearly $4 million of additional site rental billings in Q4, or $16 million annualized, and $2 million less prepaid-rent amortization in Q4, or $8 million annualized. The term extension is expected to add $20 million of straight-line revenue in Q4. On an annualized basis, management expects approximately $4 million of AFFO accretion, excluding the prepaid-rent amortization impact.
Management said cost actions taken at the start of 2026 produced $65 million of annualized run-rate operating-cost savings. Since issuing the original full-year guidance in February, underlying cost savings have added $20 million to expected Adjusted EBITDA, equivalent to roughly 50 basis points of site rental revenue, after setting aside revenue and services changes. Crown Castle continues to target more than 200 basis points of margin expansion by 2030 relative to 2026, with systems modernization, a smaller facilities footprint, lower corporate costs and the exit from transition services supporting the effort. The company expects to purchase more than 400 ground leases in 2026, more than double 2025’s count; Q3 discretionary capex included $40 million of land-interest purchases.
Management framed spectrum deployment and edge computing as potential longer-term growth drivers rather than material contributors to current results. Crown Castle had more than 100 edge sites deployed, up from few or none at the beginning of the year, and identified around 5,000 existing structures or shelters that might be suitable for move-in-ready customer deployments. The company is still testing whether the opportunity can scale profitably; typical installations discussed were 0.2–0.5 megawatts. Management also cited a potential 160 MHz upper C-band auction by July 2027 and described spectrum as a historical catalyst for tower investment. It linked AI-related increases in uplink traffic—potentially shifting from today’s approximate 90/10 downlink/uplink mix toward 50/50 over time—to possible network reconfiguration and greater edge-compute demand.