Crown Castle Raises Outlook as Organic Growth Accelerates
Site rental revenue increased sequentially to $967 million as its year-over-year decline narrowed.
Crown Castle Inc. (CCI), the wireless-tower operator, reported a 10% increase in second-quarter adjusted funds from operations as underlying organic growth accelerated. AFFO rose to $488 million, or $1.13 a share, reversing the prior quarter’s year-over-year declines of 7% on both measures.
The improvement marked a shift from the first quarter. Underlying organic contribution to site rental billings, excluding DISH and Sprint effects, accelerated to 4.2% from 3.3% sequentially and 3.7% a year earlier, with DISH excluded from the comparison base.
Site rental revenue rose $6 million from the first quarter, while its year-over-year decline moderated to 4.1% from 4.9%. Adjusted EBITDA held at $675 million sequentially and fell 4% from a year earlier, a narrower decline than the first quarter’s 7%.
Net income fell to $94 million from $151 million in the first quarter and $291 million a year earlier. Lower financing costs helped support AFFO: interest expense declined to $208 million from $243 million, while interest income increased to $18 million from $4 million.
Organic contribution excluding DISH and Sprint effects increased to $38 million from $30 million sequentially. Core leasing and escalators were unchanged at $15 million and $25 million, respectively, while other billings improved to a positive $5 million from a negative $3 million.
Crown Castle raised the midpoint of its 2026 site rental revenue guidance by $5 million to $3.855 billion and its AFFO forecast by $5 million to $1.975 billion. The company continues to expect adjusted EBITDA of $2.690 billion and AFFO of $4.59 a share. It also lifted its net-income midpoint by $40 million to $870 million and diluted EPS guidance by $0.08 to $2.02.
The higher outlook reflected stronger site rental billings and lower costs, partly offset by a $20 million reduction in expected services and other gross margin as services activity weakened. Crown Castle now expects about $135 million of organic contribution excluding DISH and Sprint effects, up from $130 million, and reduced its forecasts for site rental operating costs, general and administrative expenses and interest expense.
After completing the Fiber and Small Cell sale for $8.4 billion in net proceeds, Crown Castle repurchased $1 billion of shares and repaid more than $7 billion of debt. It ended the quarter with all debt carrying fixed rates and about $4.5 billion available under its revolving credit facility, while holding its quarterly dividend at $1.0625 a share.