Crown Castle Closes $8.5B Divestiture, Raises 2026 AFFO View

Crown Castle Inc. CCI announced the successful closure of the disposition of its small cells and fiber solutions business for $8.5 billion. In the transaction, EQT Active Core Infrastructure Fund acquired the small cells business, and Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. purchased the fiber solutions business, each for $4.25 billion. The move resulted in Crown Castle emerging as a pure-play, U.S. tower company.Crown Castle plans to use the funds for share buybacks and debt repayment. CCI expects to implement a $1 billion share repurchase program and curtail its outstanding debt by more than $7 billion.The above move will enable CCI to focus on its core portfolio with disciplined execution, faster decision-making and improved operational agility.Along with the closure of the above transaction, CCI also updated its 2026 outlook. It highlighted that the above transaction will lower interest expenses by $40 million for 2026 due to the expected earlier repayment of debt obligations by two months. The interest income is expected to increase by $10 million in 2026 due to the earlier investment of sale transaction proceeds. CCI has raised its initial 2026 AFFO per share guidance to the $4.53-$4.65 range from the earlier guided range of $4.38-$4.49, up 16 cents at the midpoint. The Zacks Consensus Estimate presently stands at $4.43.Over the past month, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 13.9% compared with the industry's growth of 7.1%.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchStocks to ConsiderSome better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are American Tower AMT and Prologis PLD, 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 American Tower’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $10.95, which indicates year-over-year growth of 1.8%.The consensus estimate for PLD’s full-year FFO per share is pinned at $6.17, which calls for an increase of 6.2% from the year-ago period.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.Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.This top pick is a little-known satellite-based communications firm. Space is projected to become a trillion dollar industry, and this company's customer base is growing fast. Analysts have forecasted a major revenue breakout in 2025. Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like Hims & Hers Health, which shot up +209%.Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks