Cell tower giant Crown Castle on Wednesday reported $1.15 billion in site rental revenues and $763 million in adjusted earnings during the first quarter of 2018.
Those totals exceeded projections from Guggenheim Securities, and the company raised its full-year outlook for income, earnings, rental revenues and adjusted funds from operations.
“After another quarter of very good financial and operating performance in the first quarter, we remain excited about the opportunities for our business to support growing data demand in the U.S.,” CCI CEO Jay Brown said in a statement.
The company said site rental revenues increased by $296 million, or about 35 percent, compared to the initial quarter of 2017, in large part due to $234 million in contributions from acquisitions and other items.
Rental revenues and earnings, officials added, each benefitted from the $12 million impact of a recently announced long-term agreement with AT&T.
Brown noted that CCI recently inked agreements “with several of our largest customers” and that the number of small cells booked in the first quarter matched the total from all of 2016.
“We also continue to make very good progress on integrating our recent fiber acquisitions,” Brown said.
Capital expenditures increased from $262 million in the previous first quarter to $370 million, primarily thanks to a $108 million increase in fiber investments over that span.
Guggenheim analyst Robert Gutman noted although quarterly total revenues were slightly below the firm’s estimates — a result of lower development revenues — earnings and site revenues would have been strong even without the AT&T extension.
“We continue to expect an improving outlook through the year as carrier spending develops,” Gutman wrote in a note.
