Crown Castle's Q2 AFFO Surpasses Estimates, Revenues Fall Y/Y

Crown Castle Inc. CCI reported second-quarter 2025 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share of $1.02, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.00. However, the figure declined nearly 1% year over year.

Results reflect a rise in services and other revenues year over year. However, a decline in site rental revenues affected the results to some extent. CCI increased its outlook for 2025.

Net revenues of $1.06 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.04 billion but fell 4.2% year over year.

Key Earnings Takeaways for CCI

During the second quarter, CCI’s total site rental revenues declined 5.3% year over year to $1.00 billion. This fall was due to a $16 million decrease in amortization of prepaid rent and a $34 million decrease in straight-lined revenues. Our estimate for total site-rental revenues was pegged at $983.5 million.

The organic contribution to site rental billings of $45 million reflected 4.7% year-over-year organic growth, excluding the $51 million impact from Sprint Cancellations.

On the other hand, services and other revenues came in at $52 million, which rose 20.9% from the prior-year quarter. Our estimate for services and other revenues was pegged at $51.5 million.

The quarterly adjusted EBITDA was down 3% year over year to $705 million.

Net interest expense and amortization of deferred financing costs rose 5.7% year over year to $243 million. Our estimate for the same was $247.3 million.

CCI’s Financial Position

Crown Castle exited the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $94 million, up from $60 million reported as of March 31, 2025.

Moreover, debt and other long-term obligations aggregated $22.04 billion as of June 30, 2025, decreasing 3.7% sequentially.

2025 Guidance for CCI

Crown Castle raised its guidance for 2025 AFFO per share in the range of $4.14-$4.25 compared to the prior guidance of $4.06-$4.17. The Zacks Consensus Estimate presently stands at $4.18, within the projected range.

CCI increased the site rental revenue range to $3.997-$4.042 billion compared to the previous range of $3.987-$4.032 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is estimated in the band of $2.780-$2.830 billion, up from the prior range of $2.755-$2.805 billion.

Crown Castle currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Crown Castle Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Crown Castle Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Crown Castle Inc. Quote

Performance of Other REITs

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. ARE reported second-quarter 2025 AFFO per share of $2.33, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.29. However, this shows a decline from the AFFO of $2.36 reported in the prior-year quarter.

Results reflect decent leasing activity and rental rate growth. However, lower occupancy and higher interest expenses year over year undermined the results to some extent.

Prologis, Inc. PLD reported second-quarter 2025 core funds from operations (FFO) per share of $1.46, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.41. This also compares favorably with the year-ago quarter’s figure of $1.34.

The quarterly results reflect a rise in rental revenues and healthy leasing activity. However, high interest expenses remain the undermining factor.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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