Crown Castle Stock Gains 16.3% in 6 Months: Will the Trend Continue?

Crown Castle CCI shares have gained 16.3% in the past six months against the industry's fall of 2.5%.

The company’s efforts to augment its tower business bode well for growth amid rising wireless connectivity usage. As wireless data consumption is expected to rise significantly over the next few years, service providers are likely to continue their network expansion and densification efforts to meet the demand. Long-term leases from tenants assure steady revenues for this tower REIT. A healthy balance sheet is likely to support its growth endeavors.

Analysts seem bullish on this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 funds from operations (FFO) per share has been revised a cent upward to $4.19 over the past month.

Let us decipher the possible factors behind the rise in the stock price.

The exponential growth in mobile data usage, higher availability of spectrum and deployment of 5G networks at scale are driving significant network investments by carriers who aim to improve and densify their cell sites. Given Crown Castle’s unmatched portfolio of approximately 40,000 towers in the United States (as of the second quarter of 2025), it remains well-positioned to capitalize on this upbeat trend. In the second quarter of 2025, excluding the impact of Sprint Cancellations, the company reported 4.7% organic growth, which was driven by an increase in demand across its portfolio of tower business.

Crown Castle has long-term tower lease agreements with top U.S. carriers, which contribute to recurring site rental cash flows over the long term. The long-term leases enable the company to enjoy recurring revenues that provide top-line stability, while contracted rent escalators on the majority of its revenues offer embedded growth. Moreover, a strong and creditworthy tenant base adds resiliency to its business.

Crown Castle has sufficient liquidity and a decent balance sheet position. The company exited the second quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $94 million, up from $60 million in the prior quarter. After closing the fiber segment business, CCI expects to use substantial cash proceeds to repay debt.

As of June 30, 2025, the company had $6.6 billion of undrawn available under its senior unsecured revolving credit facility. Further, as of the end of the second quarter of 2025, Crown Castle enjoyed investment-grade credit ratings of BBB, BBB+ and Baa3 from Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and Moody’s, respectively, facilitating access to debt markets on attractive terms.

With the above-mentioned factors, we believe the rising trend in the stock is expected to continue in the near term.

Risks Likely to Affect CCI’s Positive Trend

Crown Castle’s top-line growth is likely to be affected by the consolidation in the wireless industry. High customer concentration and elevated interest expenses are other key concerns.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Host Hotels & Resorts HST and W.P. Carey WPC, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HST’s 2025 FFO per share has moved a cent northward to $1.95 over the past week.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WPC’s 2025 FFO per share has moved a cent downward to $4.87 over the past month.

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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