CCI
ACCE-researchedOverview
ACCE thesis
Crown Castle owns and leases roughly 40,000 cell towers and 90,000 route miles of small cell and fiber networks across the United States - the physical backbone that carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile can't economically replicate. Tower leases carry 3% annual escalators baked into long-term contracts, which means revenue compounds regardless of what the carriers are doing quarter to quarter. The near-term catalyst is the ongoing 5G densification buildout, which requires small cells at a pace that makes Crown's fiber-connected nodes the path of least resistance for carriers hitting coverage gaps. At $37.8B market cap against that 73.8% gross margin and a forward P/E of 29.3, the stock is off roughly 50% from its 2021 highs - the pain came from rate sensitivity and a messy small cell margin story, but the tower core never broke. The Sprint churn headwind that's been dragging the -4.8% revenue growth line is largely behind us now, and any stabilization in leasing activity from T-Mobile re-acceleration makes this a different income statement in 2025.
- severeNegative equity, extreme leverageDebt/Equity of -14.89 signals deeply negative book equity, making the balance sheet structurally insolvent on a book basis.
- highRevenue declining sharplyRevenue fell 4.8% YoY and 5.8% QoQ, a meaningful deceleration for a REIT dependent on stable contracted cash flows.
- highVery low ACCE scoreScore of 38/100 with Growth sub-score of only 19 signals weak fundamental momentum; score also slipped 2 points in 90 days.
- moderateNegative ROE distorts returnsROE of -206.7% reflects negative equity base, masking true return quality and complicating peer comparisons.
- moderateNet insider selling biasLast 10 disclosures show $0.52M in sales vs only $0.07M in buys, a 7:1 sell-to-buy ratio by value.
Walk me through this stock
Plain-English pros, cons, and what to watch. Pro feature.
Price
Valuation
INVESTORSix independent models converge on one confidence-weighted fair value, with full methodology and editable assumptions.
- +All six models: DCF, P/E and EV/EBITDA comps, Graham, dividend discount, residual income
- +Scenario bands, sensitivity tornado, and the 5-year historical valuation range
- +Editable DCF workbench with saved scenarios
Quality
INVESTORThe full quality picture: conviction breakdown, earnings quality, score history, and backtested returns.
- +Conviction score breakdown and earnings-quality grade
- +Growth / value / quality / momentum component scores
- +90-day score history and score-threshold backtests
Analysts
Wall Street consensus
The full analyst picture: the price-target distribution against the current price, forward consensus estimates, and how ACCE's own models compare.
- +Price-target low / average / high vs the current price, with implied upside
- +Forward revenue and EPS consensus by fiscal year
- +ACCE fair-value models lined up against the Street
Smart Money
PROFollow the institutions: 13F position changes, insider trades, and active 13D activist filings.
- +Quarter-over-quarter institutional position changes
- +Recent open-market insider transactions
- +Active 13D activist filings and top holders
Compare
Where it sits vs peers
Algorithmic peers (6)
| Ticker | Company | Mcap | P/E | ROE | D/E | Yield | Quality | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRM | Iron Mountain Incorporated (Delaware)Common Stock REIT | $34.0B | 81.1 | 225.1% | -25.48 | 3.0% | - | Compare |
| SBAC | SBA Communications Corporation Class A Common Stock | $18.9B | 19.3 | 0.0% | -2.66 | 2.6% | - | Compare |
| WY | Weyerhaeuser Company Common Stock | $15.3B | 32.2 | 5.0% | 0.59 | 3.9% | - | Compare |
| LAMR | Lamar Advertising Company Class A Common Stock | $14.9B | 26.8 | 59.4% | 3.38 | 4.3% | - | Compare |
| DLR | Digital Realty Trust Inc. Common Stock | $68.8B | 88.4 | 2.9% | 0.84 | 2.6% | - | Compare |
| AMT | American Tower Corporation (REIT) Common Stock | $81.1B | 23.9 | 33.9% | 10.19 | 4.0% | - | Compare |
Sector report card
Where CCI ranks against its sector peers on each metric.
News and Record
Press releases mentioning this company
- GlobeNewswire•Sep 15, 2026Crown Castle to Present at the 2026 RBC Capital Markets Global Communications Infrastructure Conference
- GlobeNewswire•Sep 14, 2026Crown Castle Announces CFO Retirement and COO Transition; Names Kris Hinson as Next CFO
- GlobeNewswire•Aug 28, 2026Crown Castle to Present at the Bank of America 2026 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference
Ask anything, Pro feature
Ask questions about this stock in plain language. Answered from company fundamentals + recent valuations.