SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) yesterday reported results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.
Highlights of the first quarter include:
- Net income of $188.3 million or $1.72 per share
- AFFO per share increased 14.7 percent over the prior year period
- Total revenue of $619.7 million, a 12.9 percent growth over the prior year period
- Repurchased 1.3 million shares in the first quarter at an average price per share of $332.00
In addition, the company announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.71 per share of the company’s Class A Common Stock. The distribution is payable June 14, 2022 to the shareholders of record at the close of business on May 19, 2022.
“We are off to a very strong start to 2022,” commented Jeffrey A. Stoops, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We produced double-digit growth in AFFO per share while operationally executing at a very high level. Our cash flows continue to grow, providing multiple opportunities for the creation of additional shareholder value.”
Stoops said the company materially increased its cash dividend while maintaining a cash dividend / AFFO per share ratio of less than 25 percent. According to the CEO, the company is experiencing strong demand in substantially all of its markets. Based on its backlogs and conversations with its customers, Stoops said they expect elevated leasing activities to continue through 2022 and into 2023.
“All of our U.S. wireless carrier customers are actively engaged in building out their 5G networks,” he said, “and we are committed and have the resources to help them achieve their goals. Our services personnel have never been busier. Internationally, growth in the first quarter was very strong, driven by organic lease-up, increased CPI-based escalators and portfolio growth. We closed on the Tanzania acquisition early in the first quarter, and we are off to a good start in that new market.”
With spectrum auctions now complete, SBA said it expects 5G deployments from its customers in Brazil and South Africa, its two largest international markets, to begin to accelerate. These activity levels have allowed the company to increase its 2022 Outlook on all important metrics giving it confidence in strong organic leasing growth over the next couple of years.
“We believe the future is very bright,” Stoops said, “and we are excited to support our customers in the advancement of wireless networks across all of our markets. The favorable operational environment, expected strong execution on our part and opportunistic allocation of capital into both quality new assets and stock repurchases should allow us to continue to produce material growth in AFFO per share and total shareholder return.”
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