HOUSTON-Although Crown Castle International Corp. narrowed its net loss for the second quarter ended June 30 compared with second-quarter 2001, the company slashed in half its earnings expectations for 2002 and Wall Street took notice.
Like American Tower Corp., which reported earnings late Wednesday, CCI’s stock hit a 52-week low in mid-afternoon trading. Shares of CCI dipped more than 37 percent to trade at $1.18.
CCI said in its first-quarter earnings that it expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for 2002 to total between $369 million and $399 million. Now the company is projecting earnings of between $160 million and $180 million, assuming it adds tenants on existing towers at a rate of between 0.25 tenants and 0.35 tenants per tower. CCI had 15,462 towers at the end of the quarter.
CCI reported revenues of $225.5 million the quarter, slightly down from the $229.4 million reported for the same period last year. The company reported a net loss for the quarter of $68.6 million, or 41 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $84.7 million, or 49 cents per share, for second-quarter 2001.
