| Factor | Score | Distribution | Value | Avg | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Valuation | 29 | 38.2x | 17.8x | Bottom tier | |
Growth | 29 | -4.6% | 7.1% | Bottom tier | |
Quality | 95 | 8.1% | 4.5% | Top tier | |
Safety | 26 | 8.2x | 2.6x | Bottom tier | |
Capital Return | 67 | 5.62% | 2.12% | Top tier | |
Momentum | 20 | -22.1% | 2.9% | Bottom tier | |
Sentiment | 47 | 10 | 3 | Around median |
Estimates — analyst targets and a simplified DCF, not investment advice.
Ten ratios that matter, each compared against its sector median and average — so you can see whether a number is rich or cheap relative to peers in the same sector.
Crown Castle Inc. operates as a wireless communications infrastructure operator in the United States, generating its core revenue from leasing space at tower sites to mobile network companies, alongside services related to site preparation. On May 1, 2026, it completed the sale of its small cells and fiber businesses, becoming, according to management, the only publicly traded operator focused exclusively on U.S. towers, a transformation that made site rental revenue and tower operating efficiency the focus of growth and profitability.
In fiscal Q2 2026, Crown Castle reported revenue of $1.0 billion and gross profit of $989 million, equivalent to a gross margin of approximately 98.9%. Net income was $94 million, or $0.22 per share, with a net margin of approximately 9.4%; compared with net income of $151 million and earnings per share of $0.34 in fiscal Q1 2026. Revenue for the twelve months ending in fiscal 2026 was approximately $7.2 billion, with net income of $383 million and earnings per share of $0.8764.
Fiscal Q2 2026 reflected a mix of core business growth and contract termination pressures; organic growth was 3.9% excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, rising to 4.2% when DISH revenue was excluded from the comparison base. However, this growth was offset by a $5 million decline from Sprint cancellations, $49 million from DISH terminations, and $25 million from lower non-cash revenue, while AFFO benefited from a $35 million reduction in interest expense and a $14 million increase in interest income after receiving $8.4 billion in sale proceeds.
The analyst consensus is Buy, with an average price target of $89.5 and a range of $84 to $95. The target range falls within the 52-week range of $69.72 to $100.5, and the highest target is below the peak of that range, indicating that the analyst valuation does not assume a full return to the annual high. The absence of a meaningful P/E ratio prevents anchoring the valuation to accounting earnings, so AFFO growth, debt reduction, and the company's ability to offset the effects of DISH and Sprint remain key pillars for assessing the valuation.
Figures in the text are as of 2026-08-28; the live price is shown at the top of the page.
On May 1, 2026, Crown Castle completed the sale of its small cells and fiber businesses and became, according to management, the only publicly traded pure-play U.S. tower operator. The company received $8.4 billion in net proceeds from the transaction and used approximately $7.2 billion to repay debt and $1 billion to repurchase shares. Tower site rental revenue and related services became the core of the business, with an operational focus on land purchases, improving execution cycles, and enhancing the customer experience.
Revenue was $1.0 billion and gross profit was $989 million in fiscal Q2 2026, equivalent to a gross margin of approximately 98.9%. The company reported net income of $94 million and earnings per share of $0.22, compared with net income of $151 million and earnings per share of $0.34 in fiscal Q1 2026. Organic growth was 3.9% excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, but it faced pressure from terminations, cancellations, and non-cash declines totaling $79 million.
Crown Castle is asserting a contractual claim of $3.5 billion and will seek recovery through the bankruptcy court after terminating the agreement due to nonpayment. Funding of a $2.4 billion escrow account is tied to the closing of EchoStar's spectrum transaction with AT&T, but management did not specify how much Crown Castle could recover from it. In fiscal Q2 2026, DISH terminations reduced site rental revenue by $49 million, while the expected combined annual impact from DISH and Sprint is approximately $240 million.
Automated analysis for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
The edge computing opportunity was still in the trial stage on July 22, 2026, with several companies that management did not name participating. Crown Castle is targeting applications such as inference, cybersecurity, fraud detection, and real-time processing at sites with power and broadband connectivity. The sites could accommodate workloads ranging from tens of kilowatts to low hundreds of kilowatts, or approximately less than 0.2 megawatts, but management did not provide a numerical revenue forecast or a timeline for the trials to transition into broad commercial deployment.
Management describes fiscal 2026 as the expected trough for organic growth, and more than 90% of its expected organic growth was under contract by the end of fiscal Q2 2026. Its outlook is based on long-term customer agreements, deployment of the 600 MHz band, a plan to make at least an additional 800 MHz available, and edge infrastructure trials. It also cited a forecast for U.S. smartphone data consumption to rise from 25 to 52 gigabits per month over five years and for uplink traffic to triple.
Crown Castle ended fiscal Q2 2026 with leverage of 6.3 times net debt to EBITDA, within its investment-grade target range of 6 to 6.5 times. Since the previous quarter, it repaid approximately $7.2 billion of debt, including nearly $5 billion of variable-rate debt, and repurchased more than 11 million shares for $1 billion. The repurchase reduced the annual dividend obligation by $47 million, while the estimated fiscal 2026 capital expenditure outlook remained at $200 million, or $160 million after accounting for $40 million of prepaid rent.
