During Crown Castle’s (NYSE: CCI) 2Q25 earnings call on Wednesday, Daniel Schlanger, Interim President & CEO said the company was delivering on the three near-term priorities. “First, meeting or exceeding the company’s financial and operating objectives for 2025,” Schlanger said, “second, facilitating the successful close of the sale of our small cells and fiber solutions businesses; and third, positioning the tower business to maximize value for shareholders on a stand-alone basis.” Schlanger cited higher demand for Crown’s assets and the company’s improved operating efficiency for brightening their 2025 outlook.
He said the company has driven shorter cycle times that have contributed to its higher leasing expectations for the remainder of the year. “We have improved the margins in our services business by reducing operating costs, and we have reduced expected full year 2025 overhead costs by $10 million. We believe our continued focus on operating the tower business more efficiently, along with our previously announced capital allocation framework will position the company to maximize value as a pure-play U.S. tower operator.”
MoffettNathanson market analyst Nick Del Deo said in recent quarters, Crown Castle has been a bit of an outlier with respect to its observed leasing trends versus its peers. “The company has maintained that it was seeing consistent demand from the carriers, while American Tower and SBA (and private players) pointed to a noticeable uptick,” he said.
With Wednesday’s results, Crown Castle lifted its forecast for 2025 core leasing by $5M, from $110M to $115M. “While not a dramatic change,” according to Del Deo, it lifts expected 2025 organic site rental revenue growth by 0.2 percent with core leasing totaling $56M. “Management noted that the increased leasing activity was broad-based across customers and geographies,” Del Deo said. “We still worry about the company’s outsized exposure to EchoStar vs. peers, but taken together we’d judge [Wednesday’s] results to be a modest net positive for both the near-term and the long-term.”
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