Wireless tower owners continue to gain steam, as reflected in third-quarter financial results released last week by Crown Castle International Corp., Global Signal Inc., American Tower Corp. and SBA Communications Corp.
Crown Castle’s solid third-quarter earnings included site-rental revenues that reached $134 million, up 11.6 percent from a year ago. U.S. site-rental revenue alone made up $125.3 million of that, up 10.5 percent from the same period in 2003.
Operating income totaled $11.6 million, up from a loss of $7.3 million last year. Net loss was $56.1 million, improved from a loss of $104.8 million a year ago. Net cash from operating activities totaled $19.2 million, and free cash flow reached $9.5 million.
“We are very pleased with our company performance this quarter as we continue to complete over 25 percent more new tenant leases with our customers in 2004 than in 2003,” said John Kelly, president and chief executive officer of Crown.
Shares of Crown were trading down slightly at $15.41 by the end of last week.
American Tower, meanwhile, reported total revenues of $199.2 million and income from operations of $24.6 million, increased from $186.9 million and $12 million, respectively, a year ago. Net loss was $55.9 million, or 25 cents per share, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 15 percent from the year-ago period to reach $115.7 million. American Tower generated net cash of $43.8 million, up 49 percent from last year, and free cash flow was up 114 percent to $40.1 million.
“The consistency of our operating performance and the strong fundamentals of our customers and the wireless communication industry, combined with the continued improvement in our financial position, give us confidence in our future performance as we look forward to 2005 and beyond,” said Jim Taiclet, chairman and CEO.
Shares of American Tower were trading up slightly at $16.77 following the news.
Global Signal’s revenues reached $46.5 million, up from $41.9 million a year ago, and net income increased 57 percent to $6.3 million, or 12 cents per share. Meanwhile, EBITDA was up 27 percent to $26.5 million. Free cash flow was approximately $18.9 million, or 35 cents per share.
The company’s revenue, tower cash flow, EBITDA and free cash flow numbers all beat analyst Raymond James & Associates Inc. estimates by nearly $1 million each. “Since tower business has good visibility, we are not surprised,” the analyst firm said in a research note.
Global Signal was trading at $23.75 per share following its earnings news.
SBA for its part garnered total revenues of $58.7 million, up from $47.6 million a year ago. Of that, site-leasing revenue made up $37 million and site-development revenue accounted for $21.8 million.
EBITDA was $20.8 million, up 31.3 percent from a year ago. Net loss was also up though at $24 million, or 42 cents per share, vs. a net loss of $19.7 million, or 38 cents per share, last year.
“The combination of anticipated strong operating results and our debt and interest reduction activities to date lead us to anticipate positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter, which we expect will steadily increase over time,” said Jeffrey Stoops, SBA’s president and CEO.
Shares of SBA were trading up slightly at $8.25 on the results.
SpectraSite Inc. will release its results Nov. 3.
