Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, could you please provide your opinion on Crown Castle (Symbol CCI) as well as any other big cell tower owners. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: There are three U.S. leaders in the cell tower business: Crown Castle International, $142.36, symbol CCI on New York (Shares outstanding: 416.0 million; Market cap: $59.6 billion; www.crowncastle.com), is an owner and operator of cell towers. The company owns, leases and manages 40,000 towers in the U.S., including Puerto Rico. Approximately 73% of site rental revenues are derived from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint. Crown Castle continues to expand. Since 2017, it has invested $13.8 billion in the purchase of towers, fibre and small cell networks and related land interests. That money has also gone into the ongoing building and improvement of its assets, including infrastructure for 5G wireless networks. Capital expenditures were $1.55 billion through the first three quarters of 2019, and likely reached $2.0 billion by the end of 2019. The company’s shares are up over 35% over the last year, and now trade at a very high 59.6 times forecast 2020 earnings per share of $2.39. That p/e in…