Boca Raton, Fla.-based SBA Communications (SBAC) announced third fiscal quarter total revenue of $393.3 million, beating the tower company’s estimate of $385.6 million.
That growth was driven by the 2012 purchase of 2,300 tower sites in the United States and Central America, along with acquisition of distributed antenna systems in Chicago; Las Vegas; New York City; and Auburn, Ala.
Company President and CEO Jeff Stoops said, “We had another great quarter. Once again we lead our industry in many important growth metrics.”
Stoops said AT&T and Verizon Wireless represent the lion’s share of new tenant leases executed by SBA.
“We are experiencing strong demand across the entire portfolio, both domestic and international,” he said.
Stoops pointed to the new generation of large-screen mobile phones, connected vehicles and smart watches as potentially driving capacity growth. He said SBA is poised to “support the need for additional wireless infrastructure going forward. Wireless data growth in a world of limited spectrum … requires more equipment. It’s really that simple.”
SBA has also launched services in Brazil on the heels of the 2012 purchase of 800 freestanding wireless towers.
The company reported site leasing revenue of $349 million, up 21.4% year-over-year and beating revenue projections of $345.6 million and 20.2% growth.
Broken down, SBA earned $283.8 million from site leasing in America, up 12.3% year-over-year, and $48.8 million on international site leasing, up a staggering 167.1% from this time last year.
SBA spent $140.5 million on capital expenditures in the third fiscal quarter of 2014.
Cowen analyst Colby Synesael called SBA’s performance “solid. As such we expect the stock to benefit from a bit of a relief rally today after trading down [approximately] 3% the last three days.”
For fiscal year 2015, SBA predicted 12% revenue growth based on site leasing along with continued acquisition of towers.
SBA is listed on the NASDAQ. The independent company owns towers in all 50 states, Canada, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.
