USA: SBA to buy back up to $300M of stock

SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC) reported revenues up 13.4% in the first quarter, totaling $167.7 million and narrowed its net loss by 2 cents per share. Site leasing revenue of $146.5 million was up 14.5% over the year earlier period. Like competitor Crown Castle Intenrational Corp. (CCI) , SBA also in investing in itself with a new plan to buy back up to $300 million of stock.
“We had a solid first quarter,” said Jeffrey A. Stoops, President and CEO. “Our customers were busy, we executed well and we produced material growth in a number of key metrics including growth in equity free cash flow per share. Our customers were active in both our domestic and international markets. We believe organic growth should remain solid in 2011 from continued 3G and increasing 4G network development activities by our customers. We expect the combination of solid organic growth, continued domestic and international portfolio expansion and stock repurchases will allow SBA to continue to produce material year-over-year growth in equity free cash flow per share.”
Tower cash flow for the first quarter totaled $115.7 million, up 14.8% from a year ago. Net loss for the first quarter clocked in at $34.4 million, down from the $37.4 million loss in first-quarter 2010.
The company repurchased and retired nearly 1.8 million shares of common stock for $75 million, and implemented a new stock repurchase program of up to $300 million.
SBA updated its full-year outlook, assuming 9% organic leasing revenue growth on owned towers and around 400 new towers built in the United States. Based on those figures, among others, the company expects full-year revenues in the range of $684 million to $704 million on estimated site-leasing revenues of $599 million to $609 million, and discretionary cash capital expenses between $275 million and $295 million.
During a conference call, Stoops said that now that SBA has its back-office established in Canada and South America, the company would “keenly look for opportunities” to grow in those regions. The company is probably seeing more amendments to existing tower leases vs. new tower leases. When asked if SBA had plans to go into the shared generator business, like AT&T Mobility is doing, Stoops noted SBA tried that strategy a few years ago but didn’t see much traction with the product, so for now is content to just be involved on the lease amendment and services work for shared generators.