SBAC

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for SBA Communications (SBAC). Shares have added about 0.5% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. But investors have to be wondering, will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is SBA Communications due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts. SBA Communications Corporation reported second-quarter 2026 AFFO per share of $3.03, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.96. However, the figure declined 3.8% from $3.15 in the year-ago quarter. Total revenues increased 2.3% year over year to $715.3 million and beat the consensus mark of $703.4 million. Strong international site-leasing growth supported the top line, though domestic weakness and higher costs pressured profitability. Site-leasing revenues advanced 5.1% year over year to $663.9 million. Excluding foreign-currency movements, growth was 3%. Site leasing contributed 98.2% of the company’s total operating profit, highlighting the importance of recurring tower rental revenues. International site-leasing revenues surged 30.5% to $211.4 million. Excluding foreign-currency movements, growth was 22.4%. International site-leasing segment operating profit (SOP) climbed 31.9% to $148.8 million, while tower cash flow increased 28% to $147.4 million. Domestic site-leasing revenues declined 3.7% year over year to $452.5 million. Domestic cash site-leasing revenues also fell 3.7% to $450.2 million as customer consolidation-related churn continued to weigh on results. Domestic site leasing SOP decreased 4.8% to $381 million. Domestic site leasing tower cash flow fell 4.7% to $377.5 million, while the related margin narrowed to 83.8% from 84.7% in the prior-year quarter. The cost of site leasing increased 13.1% year over year to $134.1 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 9.2% to $77.5 million, reflecting additional pressure on operating efficiency. Net cash interest expense rose 9.5% to $122.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA increased 1.8% year over year to $483.8 million, but was unchanged, excluding foreign currency impact. The adjusted EBITDA margin edged down to 68% from 68.1%. The tower cash flow margin contracted to 79.5% from 81% a year earlier. The company acquired six communication sites for $10.5 million and built 109 towers during the second quarter. Of the newly constructed towers, 99 were international sites. SBA Communications ended June with 46,390 communication sites, including 17,362 in the United States and its territories and 29,028 internationally. Total cash capital expenditures were $91.2 million, comprising $15.8 million of non-discretionary spending and $75.4 million of discretionary investments. Net cash provided by operating activities for the six months ended totaled $407.2 million, up from $368.1 million in the year-ago quarter. The company ended the period with $12.8 billion of total debt, $12.4 billion of net debt and $400 million of cash and cash equivalents, short-term restricted cash and short-term investments. Net debt to annualized adjusted EBITDA was 6.4 times, within management’s target range of 6-7 times. Management raised the midpoint of its total revenue outlook by $2 million. Total revenues are now projected between $2.841 billion and $2.886 billion, while site-leasing revenues are expected in the range of $2.651-$2.676 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is forecasted between $1.92 billion and $1.94 billion, reflecting a $1 million reduction at the midpoint. The 2026 AFFO-per-share outlook was increased 2 cents at the midpoint to $11.95-$12.40. In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates. At this time, SBA Communications has a poor Growth Score of F, a score with the same score on the momentum front. However, the stock was allocated a score of C on the value side, putting it in the middle 20% for value investors. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Interestingly, SBA Communications has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months. SBA Communications belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry. Another stock from the same industry, American Tower (AMT), has gained 0.4% over the past month. More than a month has passed since the company reported results for the quarter ended June 2026. American Tower reported revenues of $2.75 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +4.7%. EPS of $1.86 for the same period compares with $2.60 a year ago. American Tower is expected to post earnings of $2.82 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +1.4%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged. American Tower has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of F. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SBA Communications Corporation (SBAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report American Tower Corporation (AMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Image source: The Motley Fool. Monday, Aug. 3, 2026 at 7:00 a.m. ET President and Chief Executive Officer - Brendan Cavanagh Chief Financial Officer - Marc Montagner Vice President of Finance and Capital Markets - Louis Friend Operator: Welcome, and thank you all for joining today's SBA Second Quarter 2026 Results. Please note that today's call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] With that, I'd now like to formally begin today's call and turn it over to Louis Friend, Vice President of Finance and Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Louis Friend: Good evening, and thank you for joining us for SBA's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Here with me today are Brendan Cavanagh, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Marc Montagner, our Chief Financial Officer. Some of the information we will discuss on this call is forward-looking, including, but not limited to, any guidance for 2026 and beyond. In today's press release and in our SEC filings, we detail material risks that may cause our future results to differ from our expectations. Our statements are as of today, August 3, and we have no obligation to update any forward-looking statements we may make. In addition, our comments will include non-GAAP financial measures and other key operating metrics. The reconciliation of and other information regarding these items can be found in our supplemental financial data package, which is located on the landing page of our Investor Relations website. With that, I will now turn it over to Marc to comment on the second quarter results and 2026 outlook. Marc Montagner: Thank you, Louis. We had another good quarter, and our results were in line with our expectation. Given the solid performance in the second quarter, we are modestly increasing our full year outlook for site leasing revenue, AFFO and AFFO per share as compared to our prior 2026 guidance. The primary drivers of these increases include higher straight-line revenues and improved net cash interest expenses. In the second quarter, AFFO per share was $3.05, and with a cash dividend of $1.25 per share. We continue to operate efficiently, controlling direct costs and achieving company-wide tower cash flow margins of just under 80%. In the U.S., we added approximately $9 million of domestic new lease and amendment billings in the second quarter. The bulk of the activity continues to come from new colocations as carrier both densify and expand their network footprints. With respect to churn, our prior outlook for both Sprint and EchoStar related churn for the year remains unchanged. With regard to EchoStar, we continue to litigate the matter in federal court and believe strongly in our contractual rights. Internationally, we continue to see healthy demand for our infrastructure, and we added approximately $4 million of new lease and amendment billings in the second quarter. International churn continues to be elevated due to carrier consolidations, carrier bankruptcy, restructuring and wireless operators network rationalizations. Moving to our balance sheet. I'm very pleased to discuss our recent debt offering where in July, we issued our first unsecured investment-grade bonds. The total amount raised was $3.5 billion and net proceeds were used to pay in full both our Term Loan B and amounts outstanding on our revolving credit facility. As of today, the revolver is fully paid down, and we currently have a $570 million of cash on our balance sheet. Pro forma for this transaction, the amount of secured versus unsecured debt is now below 50%. The transaction generated very strong demand for each of the 3 tranches we issued. The 3 tranches include $1.350 billion due 2030 with a cash coupon of 4.78% (sic) [ 4.87% ]; $1.350 billion, 2031 with a cash coupon of 5.15% and $800 million due 2033 with a cash coupon of 5.45%. In aggregate, the $3.5 billion has a blended cash coupon of 5.11% and a weighted average maturity of 5 years. In addition to the new bond offering, we put in place a new larger revolving credit facility with $2.5 billion of capacity, which is unsecured. We now have a solid base of investor for investment-grade debt, and we plan to continue to issue investment-grade notes in the future to refinance our upcoming maturing ABS and high-yield security. I would also like to point out that in June, SBA was upgraded from BBB- to BBB by S&P, another positive step in our new investment-grade journey. Consistent with our prior outlook, we continue to assume that, that $1.2 billion November ABS maturity will be refinanced in November of this year at 5.25%. We ended the quarter with approximately $13 billion of total debt. Our current leverage of 6.4x net debt to adjusted EBITDA remains near historical lows and within our target range of 6x to 7x. During the second quarter, we declared and paid a cash dividend of $132.7 million or $1.25 per share. And today, we announced that our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share payable on September 17, 2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 20, 2026. This dividend represents an increase of approximately 13% over the dividend paid in the prior-year period and an annualized rate of approximately 41% of the midpoint of our full year AFFO outlook. I will now turn the call over to Brendan. Brendan Cavanagh: Thanks, Marc. The second quarter represented another solid period of both financial and operating results. We continue to lead the industry in AFFO per share and dividend growth. Throughout the quarter, the level of customer activity remained steady and in line with the first quarter. In the U.S., our customers continue to invest in their networks, expanding 5G coverage with new spectrum, including C-band, technology upgrades such as massive MIMO antennas and growth in fixed wireless access subscribers. Internationally, we continued the solid progress we made last quarter, integrating the Millicom assets and expanding our new tower build capabilities. We built 99 new towers, up from 75 in the last quarter. We expect this number will increase steadily over time. New tower builds continue to be a good use of capital, and we expect the risk-adjusted returns to exceed our cost of capital often on day 1. We continue to see positive organic growth in our international portfolio due in part to local CPI-linked rent escalators. While international churn remains elevated, we continue to focus on locking in stable, predictable operating cash flow through long-term contracts and high-quality customer partnerships. Looking ahead, I am excited about a number of prospects that I think will contribute to organic growth for years to come. On July 22, the FCC formally adopted a plan to auction 160 megahertz of upper C-band spectrum starting in April of next year. When combined with the existing lower C-band spectrum previously auctioned, this auction will create a harmonized super band of 440 megahertz of contiguous mid-band spectrum to be used for wireless. In addition to the large amount of spectrum being made available and the accelerated pace of the auctions, we were very pleased with the stricter build-out requirements established by the FCC, requiring holders to deploy the spectrum or risk forfeiture with no review or waiver process. The upper C-band's build-out requires 45% population coverage 2 years after the transition deadline and 80% coverage 6 years after, paired with automatic license termination for not fulfilling the second performance benchmark. In addition, the FCC made clear that alternative uses such as IoT, fixed point-to-point and private networks do not count towards coverage milestones. And these tougher build-out requirements are now expected to also extend to private investment firms and others that hold spectrum into the future. This structure will be helpful in ensuring that license winners are serious about deploying spectrum for the benefit of the American wireless consumer. And this will, of course, be good for SBA. As we invest in supporting our customers in meeting their network build-out goals, we expect to see incremental equipment deployed at our sites, driving organic growth for years to come. And these opportunities do not only apply to the upper C-band. The NTIA recently announced that 2.7 gigahertz spectrum can be repurposed for full power commercial licensed use. Once approved by Congress and coordinated with NOAA and the FAA, the FCC could auction 2.7 gigahertz spectrum as early as 2028. We expect the deployment of this spectrum will also require new equipment at the tower site and support long-term sustained site leasing organic growth. And on Friday, the NTIA announced that it has cleared plans to study the 4.4 gigahertz band for full power commercial license use as well. We now have the largest set of federal spectrum bands ever under consideration for repurposing, including 1.6 gigahertz, 2.7 gigahertz, 4.4 gigahertz and the 7 gigahertz band. While it will be several years before these airwaves are made available for commercial use, real progress is being made that will be supportive of network investment on our infrastructure for the next decade. In addition to new spectrum deployments, I'm excited for the prospect of other new organic growth drivers, including low latency edge compute demand and terrestrial complements to potential future satellite direct-to-device offerings. With regard to edge compute, we see a clear migration towards a distributed architecture with a significant increase in the required number of power and fiber-fed locations to improve speed and latency, enhance redundancy and reduce the concentration of resources needed to support the growth in AI-oriented applications. Our existing portfolio of assets are well suited to support this growing architecture, and I believe we have the opportunity to realize meaningful incremental organic growth over the coming years as a result of this type of activity. With regard to satellite solutions, there's been a lot of discussion around direct-to-device satellite technology, but our view remains unchanged. Satellites are a complement to terrestrial wireless networks, not a substitute for them. However, depending on how the industry develops, the advancement of this technology is expected to provide growth opportunities for our business. Potential new entrants offering direct-to-device satellite-based coverage will require [ a terrestrial ] component to their networks in order to provide ubiquitous high-quality coverage at a level competitive with traditional networks. As new providers arise, new opportunities to benefit from our extensive high-quality infrastructure portfolio and our experienced network deployment teams will grow as well. I look forward to the potential of this incremental growth opportunity. Finally, turning to capital allocation. Our dividend remains the fastest growing in the industry and among the fastest growing of all REITs. Nonetheless, as a percentage of AFFO, it remains relatively low, providing capacity to continue allocating significant capital for the benefit of our shareholders. Our leverage at quarter end was 6.4x net debt to adjusted EBITDA, below the midpoint of our target range. As a result, we have ample liquidity to put to work. We will continue to build new towers and look for attractive acquisition opportunities. However, today, we believe share buybacks are the best use of capital at current valuation levels. As Marc mentioned earlier, we have now fully paid off our revolver balance, and we intend to resume share buybacks in the second half of this year. We believe in the strength of our business, the future growth potential and our ability to execute. As a result, we see share repurchases at current valuations as a low-risk, high-return opportunity. Before opening it up for questions, I'd like to thank our team members and customers for their trust in SBA. The company's ability to achieve our vision to be our customers' first choice provider and the industry leader in quality infrastructure solutions is what we work towards every day. I'm excited about the future with new bands of spectrum becoming available, new edge use cases for our existing tower infrastructure and towers being at the center of all future wireless deployments. I'd also like to thank our shareholders for your ongoing support. And with that, operator, we are now ready for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Moving to the first hand up in our queue, Batya Levi with UBS. Batya Levi: Could you provide a little bit more color on the application volume that you're seeing in the second half? And if any early indications of the activity that you talked about, higher colocation and the spectrum held by the carriers, if that could show up as an acceleration in the growth rate into next year? Brendan Cavanagh: Sure, Batya. The volumes that we're seeing in terms of applications are relatively consistent with the first half of the year. We haven't necessarily seen an uptick. That's not necessarily the same across all carriers. And I assume this question is specific to the U.S. market. So that's how I'm answering it. In the U.S. market, it is -- one of our customers is a little bit busier than the others with us today, but that's not really that dissimilar from where we are at various points in time where there's some cyclicality and rotation among who's the busiest. So overall, if you added up the application volumes, they're relatively consistent with where they've been throughout the year. And in terms of the drivers of growth opportunities into the future, particularly around the new spectrum bands, most of what we talked about is something that is longer term in its nature. So that's something that's going to happen over the next 5-plus years. I don't necessarily expect it to have a significant impact on next year, but we're also not ready to give our outlook for next year's leasing growth yet. So stay tuned for that for next year. Operator: Moving to our next question, Ric Prentiss with Raymond James. Ric Prentiss: A couple of questions. One, I got to admit, a little confused by why change guidance at all when it's like rounding points. Obviously, EBITDA down a little bit, unchanged without FX. But it seems like the ranges were widened up. What's kind of the philosophical thought on guidance? And I have a couple of other quick ones. Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I mean, we didn't really change much, right? Most of the stuff at the top end has changed slightly because of FX. And because we're changing the specific FX assumption, which is really driven by what's happened specifically with the Brazilian real, while it's small, just the math without making a change is driven in large part because of the FX, which is why we break out what the change is, excluding FX, and you can see most of those did not change. As you get a little bit further down the P&L, there's a few minor changes that are mostly to do with things like interest expense, which is changed in part because of the financing that we did. So that causes an impact. And so really, we're just flowing those into the numbers. But basically, there's no change in our outlook from what we gave last time, except for a couple of these specific things that occurred that we felt that we should modify the ranges for. But generally, you're correct. I would expect everything to still end up in the same ranges that we gave before. Ric Prentiss: Okay. Glad to hear the news on the stock buyback. Earlier today, we had EchoStar say they're going to do a $5 billion buyback, but it didn't seem like there was pacing there. I appreciate you saying that you could resume in second half '26. I think it's $1.1 billion you guys have left. But how should we think about your pacing of the buyback, how it works with leverage and your other capital allocation items? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I mean, obviously, I don't want to say exactly and specifically what we would do, but we were trying to be pretty clear that we fully expect to be active during the second half of the year in buying back our stock. And if you look at where we were before, we had a fairly large amount outstanding on our revolver. We had some refinancing that we needed to get done. We completed that in July, just a few weeks ago. And so with that now behind us, we feel like we're in a very strong position to lean into what we think is a very good value in our stock today, unfortunately. Ric Prentiss: Yes. No, I appreciate that. And last one for me on the competition from satellite, we agree, seems more complementary. But how should we think about what percent of your base is like really rural? What percent of your towers? Because we think that's probably the better venue for satellite, direct-to-cell. We like to differentiate direct-to-cell versus direct-to-device. But how do you think about that -- are they -- are there some sites on the fringe that might be better served by satellite? And what kind of magnitude is that for you guys? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I mean, it's hard to say, obviously, exactly. I think when we look at our portfolio, we've done some of our own analysis about what might be those fringe sites. It's probably no more than 2% to 3%, Ric. But even that, I'm hesitant to really quantify because this remains to be seen, how this all plays out. And I don't -- I'm not so sure that it's going to be all that impactful at all. Ric Prentiss: It's a small number. In fact, you might actually find some sites that need to be built, I guess, as you look at when people start using satellite connectivity that they might want to actually say, "Oh, we need a cell site here." Brendan Cavanagh: Yes, for sure. I think I've shared in the past some stories that I've heard, anecdotal evidence of the need for incremental sites that might come through satellite activity. And I know that our carrier customers today have used the data that they've gathered from some of the satellite service that has been provided through partners to identify places where they had needs to maybe put a tower site to serve a greater amount of usage than they were expecting in a particular location. So I think there will be some balance. There will probably be some fringe sites that perhaps aren't economical to maintain, and there will be other places where the opposite is true, and there'll be new infrastructure added. Operator: Moving to the next caller in our queue, Michael Rollins with Citi. Michael Rollins: Two questions, if I could. Just one, in terms of just overall asset strategy, where are you in terms of the process of continuing to optimize your assets, thinking about monetization opportunities, whether it's for a particular market or portions of the market? And then secondly, is there anything -- now that we're in August, and you kind of look back and you mentioned your observations on the stock on this call. Is there anything that you're able to share about any processes that you did employ during the first half of the year or through July that might also be informing you of your view of how to value your own company? Brendan Cavanagh: So in terms of our efforts around optimizing our assets and really what we talked about 2 years ago, we've been on a consistent journey around that throughout the last couple of years. You've seen a number of activities where we have expanded our presence in certain markets to improve our positioning. In other places, we have exited certain markets. We continue on that, Mike. It's not the kind of thing that every quarter, there's something specific to announce, but you can be assured that it's an ongoing effort here at the company. And I expect in the future, there will be steps taken to improve our positioning as it relates to a variety of markets and businesses that we're in, where they are either subscale or we see greater opportunity to enhance what we're doing there. So I guess all I'd say on that is stay tuned, and we continue to pursue that effort. On the second question, there's really not much I can say. We're always looking at opportunities in the market in all different ways and what we see there as well as conversations with our customers inform our views on the value of our company. And I can just reiterate that I think today, our stock is at a price that would suggest a valuation below where we think our intrinsic value is, and that is usually why you see us lean into buying it at times like that. Operator: Moving to our next question, Jonathan Atkin with RBC Capital Markets. Jonathan Atkin: A couple of questions. One, in LatAm, one of the Brazilian carriers talked about expense controls when it comes to things like tower rent. And I wondered if you could give us an update on what you're doing and how your contracts are structured to maybe prevent exposure to that, if there is anything adverse to be aware of? And then secondly, ground lease buybacks and what's going on in that segment of the market in terms of multiples, your activity level and pace. And if I can maybe lob in a third one, the returns that you're seeing on new tower builds. Brendan Cavanagh: Sure. So on the LatAm question about tower rents, I mean, it's not really that different in Latin America versus our other markets in the sense that all of our customers are always looking at ways to be more efficient and to control costs. And one of those costs is their rents on towers. But it's really a matter of making sure that what we're delivering to them is of greater value than the cost that they're incurring in order to be there. And I think, generally speaking, we're able to do that through having high-quality locations, providing service and support that meets their needs and provides them a better outcome than they might see from somebody else. And so we continue to work with all of our customers in LatAm and otherwise on how we can provide them the most value for what they need out of the sites that we're leasing to them. And I think we've done a pretty good job with that. I mean there's always going to be situations where there's a site that they don't need or they have some other alternative and it's more cost effective. But I'd say that those are more the exception than the rule. In terms of ground land buyouts, that's something we continue to do. That's something we've been doing for 15 to 20 years now here. We have a well-established function inside of the company that focuses on buying out land, both for strategic purposes as well as financial purposes. And I think we've done a very good job. One of the downsides to having done it so well for so long is that the opportunity set is a little bit smaller than perhaps it's been in the past, particularly in places like the U.S. where we've been at it for a long time. Most of the new opportunities that we see are with the new assets that we've added in some of the other markets, including Central America, and we continue to lean into it there. In terms of the values, though, we continue to find opportunities to do immediately financially accretive deals as well as secure our assets for the long term. And then in places like Brazil and others where you have pass-throughs of land costs, we're able to share a little bit of that with our customers, and that goes to your first question in that it helps reduce some of that cost for them and make it a better value proposition. And then your last question, I think, was on new tower builds, if I remember correctly, the returns on new tower builds. And we have -- it's been tough in the U.S. to see very strong returns because we've had competition from folks who've been willing to accept, frankly, returns that we just really weren't willing to accept. But our ability to deliver timely for our customers and to do a quality job, I think, is going to allow us some incremental opportunities here over the next couple of years, and I would expect to see us do a little bit more. But having said that, I don't expect it to be overly material. Internationally, though, we're building a lot of sites. We have some great opportunities in both Africa and in Central America, in particular, and you're seeing us build more and more sites. And as I mentioned in my prepared comments, as we move through the balance of the year, I would expect that you'll see us build a greater amount of sites each of the successive quarters throughout the rest of the year. Operator: Moving to the next question in our queue, Brendan Lynch with Barclays. Brendan Lynch: Brendan, maybe just a follow-up on the D2D opportunity. There was some discussion about potential additional towers, but maybe you could just kind of scope the order of magnitude of what this opportunity might be and how it relates to either just deployments on your tower specifically or maybe just using your sites for ground stations or something else just to help us understand what might be the outcome over the next couple of years. Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. Brendan, that's honestly a little bit of a hard question to answer because of where we are in the current status of the development of those opportunities. The companies that are obviously looking at direct-to-device service are still in the very early stages of working out how that might work as they acquire spectrum bands and they start to do network planning. The comments that I made were really meant to highlight what I believe will be a long-term driver of additional opportunity for our towers. And that is that anybody that is going to provide direct-to-device satellite service, if they plan to compete with the existing MNOs and the existing networks, in order to do that effectively and to deliver the kind of quality that will be required, there will be a need for a terrestrial component of those networks. And if that is the case, obviously, that will be good for us because we will be able to provide a solution that gets them to market and on air as quickly as possible. And I think we're very early in those conversations. So it's premature to talk about anything specifically. But I'm hopeful that over the coming year or 2, we will have more specifics that we can discuss as that starts to develop. But the bottom line is really the physics and what's necessary to provide that kind of service and compete. And I think we're well positioned to benefit from that. Brendan Lynch: Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then maybe just on the head count reductions that we've seen at some of the U.S. carriers recently. Has this altered their plans or the pace of deployments that you're seeing for this year or kind of even going into 2027? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I don't know whether the head count reductions specifically, but I do think that there's been a change in leadership at a couple of our larger customers and certainly a renewed focus on cost control and maybe just a refreshed review of how things are done. And I think while taking a pause to refresh how they view these things and where they spend their resources, that has had some impact on spending levels here in the U.S. But I don't think that it means anything that significant for the long term because ultimately, network quality is going to continue to be critical for their future competitive positioning, and I think we're in a good position for that. Operator: Moving to our next question, Richard Choe with JPMorgan. Richard Choe: I just wanted to follow up on the edge opportunity. Just what kind of conversations are you having? And what kind of timing should we expect? Could something happen this year? Or is it more for next year and the year after? Brendan Cavanagh: Well, I can't give you the specific details at this point, but we are talking to a number of parties who have an interest in this more disaggregated approach to compute and specifically to spread out the usage of power, those types of things that I think present challenges in the existing more centralized or hyperscale data center structure. So based on how the conversation is going, I would expect that things will develop over the course of the next 12 months. But it's just a hair premature to get into that specifically, but I do feel more confident today than I have at any point in the past about the development of this particular opportunity for us. Richard Choe: And from what you're saying, it seems like maybe there's been a pickup in how many conversations you're having in terms of -- instead of just with one company, it could be multiple ones. Brendan Cavanagh: Yes, that's true. Operator: Moving to our next question, Cameron McVeigh with Morgan Stanley. Cameron McVeigh: So just a couple. With the increase in the discretionary CapEx guide, just curious how many total builds might now be expected in this year and '26? And how much of that increase relates to Central America and Millicom? And then secondly, from a high level, could you characterize just the stage of the 4G to 5G investment cycle across your international markets? And curious where you might see the greatest remaining runway for carrier activity? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. So on the discretionary CapEx, I would say that we're expecting in the ballpark of around 600 or so sites to be built, new tower builds this year. Most of those in Central America and a reasonable amount in Tanzania as well. So that's maybe slightly up from what we had previously assumed, which contributes to the discretionary CapEx increase. And then your second question, and I apologize if I got this a little bit mixed up. I think you're asking the status across our international markets of a 4G to 5G transition. Is that correct? Cameron McVeigh: That's right. Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. So many of our markets do not actually have 5G service outside of the core central urban areas. And that allows a great opportunity for us to see incremental spending and amendment activity to upgrade those networks over the coming years. I don't have a percentage for you offline. We can probably get you something to give you a ballpark on that. But it's fairly low. It's certainly well behind the U.S. I would say, if you're looking at it in terms of years, it's at least 5 years, maybe more behind the U.S. in terms of development for our average LatAm and African market. Operator: Moving to our next caller, David Barden with New Street Research. Ryan Smyth: This is Ryan Smyth on for Dave. Just a couple of quick ones here. Going back to the DISH lawsuit, like EchoStar believes that the bankruptcy code entitles them to haircut the claims by 85%. And where do you guys land on that? And then separately, just with the escrow fund being finalized there, is there anything that's come across with that, that changes your view on fighting it out in court versus settling? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I mean, we obviously vehemently disagree with their claims of the cap, and we will fight that as we currently are. I think we're pretty well aligned with the rest of the industry and the counterparties that are involved in this. I don't want to say too much about something that's ongoing litigation. I am pleased that the FCC did make it clear that some of the games, frankly, that were being played by DISH, EchoStar around the fund, the escrow fund that was set up in terms of their rights to claim -- to make claims there that the -- that was shut down pretty quickly by the FCC, which we appreciate. But we expect that we will be successful in our legal pursuits and that there will be plenty of funds available within that account to meet many of those obligations that we expect DISH will have to SBA. Ryan Smyth: Great. And then one more, if I can. Just with the recent DE auction, Verizon came out, a winner there. As they deploy that spectrum, is that within your agreements, is that something that you'll be able to monetize? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. Short answer, yes. Operator: Moving to the next caller, Matt Niknam with Truist. Matthew Niknam: Two quick ones, if I could. I guess, first on M&A. So you only acquired about 6 sites in the quarter. I think it's the lowest we've seen in some time. Maybe if you could talk about the opportunities you're seeing on the M&A front. And I understand that you maybe are a little bit more constructive on share buybacks. Just wondering whether the enhanced balance sheet flexibility accommodates more opportunity for M&A? And then just secondly, how should we think about the cadence of new leasing in the U.S. in the second half of the year, just given the relative consistency in application volumes and activity you've seen year-to-date? Brendan Cavanagh: Sure. On the M&A front, you should expect that we are looking at everything as we have always and continue to do that. I mean what really is being reflected here with the low number of sites that we've closed on and the commentary on the buybacks, which you correctly put together is just simply that. And this is mostly specific to the U.S., but the relative valuations for the limited number of assets that are available in the U.S. are on average at a much higher valuation than our own company is valued at by a fairly significant margin. And so as a result, comparatively in terms of using our resources for investment, we see our stock as a much better use of capital than paying up for dilutive deals, frankly. However, there are opportunities that still come along and where we think maybe we can add value, and I would expect that we will still be active in the M&A market when those opportunities arise. On the new leasing cadence in the second half, if you look at our outlook that we provided in the revenue bridge that's in our press release and you look at the range that we provided, at the midpoint of the range for new leasing contributions in the U.S., you'll note that based on the actual results of the first half of the year, it implies a lesser contribution in the second half of the year. That's kind of been the expectation throughout the year. So nothing is really different than what we expected. We didn't change that outlook at all. But based on a little bit of a slowdown coming out of last year and into this year, and although it's been steady this year, that flows through with it being a little bit higher in the first half of the year and a little bit lower in the second half of the year. So that's still our expectation. Nothing has happened to change that for this year. Operator: Moving to our next caller, Eric Luebchow with Wells Fargo. Eric Luebchow: Brendan, I think you alluded to the fact that the majority of your activity levels today are coming from colos versus amendments. And when do you think we'll start to see an uptick in amendment volumes? Is it next year with 600 megahertz for AT&T or lower C-band for T-Mobile? Or are we largely waiting for some of the larger upcoming auctions like upper C-band next year to drive the next amendment cycle? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I think each of the things that you just mentioned would certainly drive more activity towards amendments because they would each require either a replacement of the existing antennas with one that has a new radio embedded or there would be incremental antennas added in some cases. Those would all be in the form of amendments. So I would expect that would be the nearer-term drivers, the 2 items that you just mentioned. But definitely longer term with some of these new spectrum bands that will come online over the coming years that we discussed in our prepared comments, I would think a lot of that initial activity would be in the form of amendments. And there is usually a cycle where you have amendments where you upgrade the existing network and then there's kind of an effort where there's more colocations as there's some infill or densification of the network done for that newer spectrum band over time. And in this point in time, we're sort of in that phase for prior deployments, including C-band, lower C-band. Eric Luebchow: Great. Appreciate that. And just one follow-up for me. Could you maybe update us on international churn? I think you've talked about this being a peak year, but I believe there's still a chunk of Claro churn that could come. So just trying to gauge the timing of when the international churn comes down back to a more normalized level. Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. It's been elevated recently and probably remains elevated for at least a little while. We're in regular conversations with our customers, but the reality is there's been a decent amount of both consolidation and even bankruptcies in some of our international markets, particularly our largest international market. And so that's had an impact on the international churn. In any case, our focus is on working out agreements with each of our largest customers where we stabilize that through long-term arrangements. Where they get something out of it, that might be some rental relief that results in churn, but that we get something out of it, too, which is a much more stabilized and consistent and reliable cash flow stream, and it allows us to work together towards new growth opportunities as they deploy new spectrum bands. So we're kind of in the midst of that. I don't want to commit as it relates to next year because, frankly, we're having a lot of those conversations today, and I don't know for sure what the timing will be. But I expect that we're nearing the end of this heightened international churn, mostly because we've gone through it with most of the customers, and there's only a couple left. Operator: Moving to our next question, Michael Ng with Goldman Sachs. Michael Ng: I just have two as well. First, just with the IG senior notes that you issued to pay down the 2024s and the revolver. I was just wondering if you could give us a sense of what the net interest savings are going to be and how we should think about interest going forward? And then second, just in the U.S., I was just wondering if you could talk about some of the factors that would push you more towards a holistic agreement or an a la carte agreement as you go through those MLAs that come up over the next couple of years? Brendan Cavanagh: Sure. On the bond, I think we gave all the details that you can look at for each of the specific tranche of notes and what the interest rates are. And so you can basically do the math on what that will be going forward. When you talk about in terms of savings, unfortunately, we're refinancing debt that is, generally speaking, less expensive or will be in the future. So it's really a matter of savings against what the alternative might be. And I think as an IG issuer, we're getting a better interest rate today than we could get if we weren't. So there is savings, but we're in an overall higher interest rate environment than we were when we put in place some of the debt instruments that will be coming due now and in the next several years. But it should all be very clear, and our guys can walk through that with you, Michael, if you need any help on calculating the interest impacts going forward. On the wholesale MLAs versus a la carte approach, the reality is we're sort of indifferent to the structure in and of itself. It really comes down to the specific terms. I think with the wholesale MLAs. We've done more of that recently than we had in the early days of our history, in part because we've had an evolution here where things are getting a little bit more mature. There's less customers. And there's a value that they see, and frankly, we see in having some level of certainty, not only in price points, but also in how business flows, how we process things, how we can be helping them be more efficient in their deployments, which ultimately benefits us. And the easier we make business for them, I think that, that benefits us. But having said all that, at the end of the day, if the terms are not something that we feel is in the best interest of our company or our shareholders, then we're fine doing it a la carte as well, and that's what we've done many times in the past. So I would expect there will probably be a situation at some point where we have some carriers on MLAs and others that we are dealing with on an a la carte basis. Operator: Moving to the next question, Nick Del Deo with MoffettNathanson. Nicholas Del Deo: First, Brendan, in your comments a few moments ago discussing satellite providers potentially deploying terrestrially, you said that we're very early in those conversations. Just to be clear, should we take that to mean that you've had exploratory discussions with satellite providers on that front? Brendan Cavanagh: We have talked to many satellite providers, yes. Nicholas Del Deo: Okay. Second, I was hoping to return to the edge compute idea. There are various concepts of how that might be deployed, whether it's kind of small fraction of 1-megawatt deployments at a host of different sites or, call it, single-digit megawatt mini data centers at certain sites. Are the conversations you're having skewing towards -- more towards one architecture than another? Brendan Cavanagh: Well, it depends on who we're talking to. Obviously, there are different thoughts depending on the potential customers that we're currently engaged with and some have very specific plans and expectations. And they're not all exactly the same. But on average, these would be smaller type of facilities, not -- these would not be 1 megawatt facilities typically. That's something that is possible down the road. But really, our tower sites are not set up today for that in terms of power availability specifically. But we continue to work through what the needs are, and we're able to make adjustments and accommodations to help meet the needs of the customer based on what works for them. So it will continue to evolve, I'm sure, and we'll find the right balance between [ what we ] provide and what they need. Operator: Moving to our next question, Aryeh Klein with BMO Capital Markets. Aryeh Klein: You have some flexibility on the balance sheet, noting you can take leverage to 7x. But curious if you'd push up to the top end of that range with share repurchases? Are you more likely to stay kind of in the mid-6 range? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. We have flexibility, as you said. And the good news is that we're producing a lot of free cash flow as well. So we actually have flexibility that doesn't even have a major impact on our leverage. I would expect us to try to be more towards the middle of our target range over time. But if we saw an opportunity where we could be opportunistic around some dislocation that we thought didn't make any sense, then perhaps you would see us temporarily bring leverage up a little bit closer to the high end. Aryeh Klein: And then maybe just following up on the edge questions. Any color that you can provide on the types of customers that are looking at it? And then just curious what percentage of your portfolio or U.S. portfolio you think could ultimately accommodate edge data centers or just benefit from it? Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I don't really want to say too much about the -- for competitive reasons, I don't want to say too much about the specific customers today, but that is something that we will certainly talk more about if it develops as I expect that it will. In terms of our portfolio, the types of things that we're looking at today, I would say roughly half, just about half of our portfolio in the U.S. would be well suited for the type of uses that we're discussing with some of these parties today. Operator: That concludes all of the questions in our queue. With that, I'll turn it back over for closing comments. Brendan Cavanagh: Great. Well, thank you all for taking the time tonight, and we appreciate it. We look forward to reporting our third quarter results next quarter. So thank you again. Operator: Thank you to all of our speakers, and thank you all in the audience for joining us today. With that, our call has concluded, and you may now disconnect. 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This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. SBA Communications (SBAC) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Release Date: August 03, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC) delivered solid Q2 2026 results, with FFO per share of $3.05 and a 13% increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.25 per share. The company successfully issued $3.5 billion in investment-grade bonds, reducing secured debt below 50% and enhancing balance sheet flexibility. SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC) plans to resume share buybacks in the second half of 2026, citing current valuations as a low-risk, high-return opportunity. The FCC's stricter buildout requirements for the upper C-band spectrum auction are expected to drive long-term organic growth for SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC). SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC) is seeing promising growth opportunities in edge compute and satellite direct-to-device complements, with about half of its U.S. portfolio suited for edge data centers. International new tower builds are ramping up, with 99 towers built in Q2, up from 75 in Q1, and expectations for continued increases. International churn remains elevated due to carrier consolidations, bankruptcies, and network rationalizations, particularly in Brazil. U.S. leasing activity is expected to be lower in the second half of 2026 compared to the first half, with no significant acceleration from new spectrum deployments until later. The company faces ongoing litigation with EchoStar over lease payment claims, with EchoStar seeking an 85% haircut on obligations. M&A activity is limited due to high valuations for available assets, with only six sites acquired in the quarter, as share buybacks are seen as a better use of capital. New tower build returns in the U.S. are challenged by competition, though international opportunities are stronger. The refinancing of existing debt at higher interest rates may not result in immediate interest savings, given the current rate environment. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with SBAC. Is SBAC fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Q: Could you provide a little bit more color on the application volume that you're seeing in the second-half? And if any early indications of the activity that you talked about higher colocation and the spectrum housed by the carriers, if that could show up as an acceleration in the growth rate into next year? A: Brendan Kavanaugh (President and CEO): The volumes we're seeing in terms of applications are relatively consistent with the first half of the year. We haven't necessarily seen an uptick, and it's not necessarily the same across all carriers. One of our customers is a little bit busier than the others, but that's not dissimilar from where we are at various points in time. Overall, application volumes are relatively consistent with where they've been throughout the year. Regarding new spectrum bands, most of what we talked about is longer-term in nature, happening over the next five-plus years. I don't necessarily expect it to have a significant impact on next year, but we're not ready to give our outlook for next year's leasing growth yet. Q: Glad to hear the news on the stock buyback. Earlier today, we had EchoStar say they're going to do a $5 billion buyback, but it didn't seem like there was pacing there. I appreciate your saying that you could resume in second-half '26. I think it's $1.1 billion you guys have left, but how should we think about your pacing of the buyback, how it works with leverage and your other capital allocation items? A: Brendan Kavanaugh (President and CEO): I don't want to say exactly and specifically what we would do, but we were trying to be pretty clear that we fully expect to be active during the second-half of the year and buying back our stock. If you look at where we were before, we had a fairly large amount outstanding on our revolver and some refinancing that we needed to get done. We completed that in July just a few weeks ago. With that now behind us, we feel like we're in a very strong position to lean into what we think is a very good value in our stock today. Q: Competition from satellite, we agree, seems more complementary. But how should we think about what percent of your base is like really rural? What percent of your towers? Because we think that's probably the better venue for satellite direct-to-cell. We like to differentiate direct-to-cell versus direct-to-device. But how do you think about that? Are there some sites on the fringe that might be better served by satellite? And what kind of magnitude is that for you guys? A: Brendan Kavanaugh (President and CEO): It's hard to say exactly. When we look at our portfolio, we've done some of our own analysis about what might be those fringe sites, it's probably no more than 2% to 3%. But even that, I'm hesitant to really quantify because this remains to be seen how this all plays out, and I'm not so sure that it's going to be all that impactful at all. There will probably be some fringe sites that perhaps aren't economical to maintain, and there will be other places where the opposite is true and there will be new infrastructure added. Q: In terms of just overall asset strategy, where are you in terms of the process of continuing to optimize your assets, thinking about monetization opportunities, whether it's for a particular market or portions of a market? And then secondly, is there anything now that we're in August and you kind of look back, you mentioned your observations on the stock on this call. Is there anything that you're able to share about any processes that you did employ during the first half of the year or through July that might also be informing you of your view of how to value your own company? A: Brendan Kavanaugh (President and CEO): In terms of our efforts around optimizing our assets, we've been on a consistent journey around that throughout the last couple of years. You've seen a number of activities where we have expanded our presence in certain markets to improve our positioning and other places we have exited certain markets. We continue on that. It's not the kind of thing that every quarter there's something specific to announce, but you can be assured that it's an ongoing effort here at the company. On the second question, there's really not much I could say. We're always looking at opportunities in the market in all different ways, and what we see there as well as conversations with our customers inform our views on the value of our company. I can just reiterate that I think today our stock is at a price that would suggest a valuation below where we think our intrinsic value is, and that is usually why you see us lean into buying it at times like that. Q: In Latam, one of the Brazilian carriers talked about expense controls when it comes to things like tower rent, and I wondered if you could give us an update on what you're doing and how your contracts are structured to maybe prevent exposure to that, if there is anything adverse to be aware of. And then secondly, ground lease buybacks and what's going on in that segment of the market in terms of multiples, your activity level and pace, and if I can maybe lob in a third one. The returns that you're seeing on new tower builds. A: Brendan Kavanaugh (President and CEO): On the LatAm question about tower rents, it's not really that different in Latin America versus our other markets in the sense that all of our customers are always looking at ways to be more efficient and to control costs. It's really a matter of making sure that what we're delivering to them is of greater value than the costs that they're incurring. We continue to work with all of our customers in LATAM and otherwise on how we can provide them the most value. In terms of ground land buyouts, we continue to do that, and it's something we've been doing for 15 to 20 years now. The opportunity set is a little bit smaller than perhaps it's been in the past, particularly in places like the US. Most of the new opportunities that we see are with the new assets that we've added in some of the other markets, including Central America. On new tower builds, it's been tough in the U.S. to see very strong returns because we've had competition from folks who've been willing to accept returns that we just really weren't willing to accept. Internationally, though, we're building a lot of sites. We have some great opportunities in both Africa and in Central America in particular, and you're seeing us build more and more sites. Q: Maybe just to follow-up on the D2D opportunity. There was some discussion about potential additional towers, but maybe you could just kind of scope the order of magnitude of what this opportunity might For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

SBA Communications recently reported past second-quarter 2026 results showing higher revenue year over year but lower net income and earnings per share, while also declaring a US$1.25 quarterly dividend payable on September 17, 2026. Alongside completing a US$400.00 million share repurchase program and slightly lifting its 2026 revenue outlook, management highlighted international site-leasing strength despite carrier churn. We’ll now examine how SBA’s modestly higher 2026 revenue guidance and capital returns via dividends and buybacks affect its investment narrative. Rare earth metals are an input to most high-tech devices, military and defence systems and electric vehicles. The global race is on to secure supply of these critical minerals. Beat the pack to uncover the 28 best rare earth metal stocks of the very few that mine this essential strategic resource. To own SBA Communications, you need to be comfortable with a tower REIT that is growing revenue but feeling pressure on earnings as carrier consolidation and churn weigh on results. The modest lift to 2026 revenue guidance and the US$1.25 dividend help the near term story, but they do not materially change the key catalyst of international site leasing momentum or the biggest current risk from concentrated carrier customers and network rationalization. The completion of SBA’s US$400.0 million share repurchase program is the most relevant recent announcement here, as it sits alongside ongoing dividends to frame how much cash is being returned while earnings per share are under pressure. This combination matters for investors tracking whether SBA can keep funding buybacks and dividends if carrier churn persists and revenue growth remains relatively modest. Yet even with steady dividends and completed buybacks, investors should be aware that carrier consolidation and churn could... Read the full narrative on SBA Communications (it's free!) SBA Communications' narrative projects $3.1 billion revenue and $920.0 million earnings by 2029. This requires 2.8% yearly revenue growth and a $80.0 million earnings decrease from $1.0 billion today. Uncover how SBA Communications' forecasts yield a $229.85 fair value, a 29% upside to its current price. Three Simply Wall St Community fair value estimates for SBA range from US$169.45 to US$263.03, underscoring how far apart individual views can be. You should weigh those opinions against the current risk that carrier consolidation and churn could affect lease pricing and cash flow, and consider how that might shape SBA’s performance over time. Explore 3 other fair value estimates on SBA Communications - why the stock might be worth 5% less than the current price! Don't just follow the ticker - dig into the data and build a conviction that's truly your own. A great starting point for your SBA Communications research is our analysis highlighting 4 key rewards and 3 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision. Our free SBA Communications research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate SBA Communications' overall financial health at a glance. The market won't wait. These fast-moving stocks are hot now. Grab the list before they run: Explore 26 top quantum computing companies leading the revolution in next-gen technology and shaping the future with breakthroughs in quantum algorithms, superconducting qubits, and cutting-edge research. The future of work is here. Discover the 35 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation. We've uncovered the 8 dividend fortresses yielding 5%+ that don't just survive market storms, but thrive in them. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include SBAC. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Performance was driven by steady domestic carrier activity focused on 5G densification and network footprint expansion through new colocations. Management attributed the modest increase in full-year outlook to higher straight-line revenues and improved net cash interest expenses following a strategic debt refinancing. International growth remains positive due to CPI-linked rent escalators and the integration of Millicom assets, despite elevated churn from carrier consolidations and restructurings. The company achieved tower cash flow margins of just under 80%, reflecting a continued focus on controlling direct costs and operational efficiency. Strategic positioning is shifting toward share repurchases as management believes current market valuations sit significantly below the company's intrinsic value. Management highlighted the importance of high-quality infrastructure in retaining international customers who are increasingly focused on cost efficiency and network rationalization. The FCC's adoption of stricter build-out requirements for upper C-band spectrum is expected to drive incremental equipment deployment and organic growth for years to come. Management anticipates a long-term growth tailwind from the repurposing of federal spectrum bands (1.6, 2.7, 4.4, and 7 GHz) for commercial use over the next decade. The company expects to steadily increase new tower builds, targeting approximately 600 sites in 2026, primarily in Central America and Tanzania. Strategic initiatives include exploring edge compute opportunities, with approximately half of the U.S. portfolio deemed suitable for distributed architecture and AI-oriented applications. Management assumes the $1.2 billion November ABS maturity will be refinanced at 5.25%, maintaining leverage within the target range of 6x to 7x. The transition to an investment-grade debt profile was marked by a $3.5 billion unsecured bond offering, reducing secured debt to below 50% of the total capital structure. Ongoing litigation with EchoStar regarding contractual rights remains a focal point, with management vehemently disagreeing with EchoStar's claims to haircut obligations by 85%. International churn is expected to remain elevated in the near term due to carrier bankruptcies and consolidations, particularly in the company's largest international markets. Management noted that while satellite direct-to-device technology is a complement to terrestrial networks, it may result in the rationalization of 2% to 3% of 'fringe' tower sites. U.S. application volumes remain steady and consistent with the first half of the year, though activity levels vary by carrier. Management clarified that new spectrum bands are long-term drivers and are unlikely to significantly impact leasing growth until beyond next year. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management views share repurchases as a 'low-risk, high-return' opportunity because U.S. asset valuations in the M&A market are currently dilutive compared to SBA's stock price. The company intends to be active in buybacks during the second half of 2026 now that the revolver is fully paid down. Management confirmed exploratory discussions with multiple satellite providers regarding the need for terrestrial components to ensure ubiquitous coverage. They believe satellite providers will eventually require tower infrastructure to compete effectively with traditional mobile network operators. Conversations have shifted toward a disaggregated approach to compute to manage power constraints in centralized data centers. Management expects these opportunities to develop over the next 12 months, targeting smaller facilities rather than 1-megawatt deployments. International markets are estimated to be at least five years behind the U.S. in 5G development, providing a long runway for amendment activity. Most international 5G service is currently limited to core urban areas, leaving significant room for future network upgrades.

SBA Communications (SBAC) reported $715.29 million in revenue for the quarter ended June 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 2.3%. EPS of $3.03 for the same period compares to $2.09 a year ago. The reported revenue represents a surprise of +1.7% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $703.37 million. With the consensus EPS estimate being $2.96, the EPS surprise was +2.37%. While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately. Here is how SBA Communications performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: Sites owned - Domestic: 17,362 versus the three-analyst average estimate of 17,378. Sites owned - International: 29,028 versus the three-analyst average estimate of 29,139. Sites owned - Total: 46,390 versus the three-analyst average estimate of 46,517. Sites decommissioned - Domestic: -32 compared to the -18 average estimate based on two analysts. Sites owned previous - International: 28,980 versus the two-analyst average estimate of 28,980. Sites owned previous - Total: 46,358 compared to the 46,358 average estimate based on two analysts. Sites acquired - Total: 6 compared to the 118 average estimate based on two analysts. Sites built - Total: 109 versus 118 estimated by two analysts on average. Revenues- Site Development: $51.39 million compared to the $49.85 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of -23.5% year over year. Revenues- International Site Leasing: $211.44 million versus $208.89 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +30.5% change. Revenues- Domestic Site Leasing: $452.45 million compared to the $449.07 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of -3.7% year over year. Revenues- Site Leasing: $663.89 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $657.96 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +5.1%. View all Key Company Metrics for SBA Communications here>>> Shares of SBA Communications have returned -1.9% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.2% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SBA Communications Corporation (SBAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

BOCA RATON, Fla., August 03, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SBA Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: SBAC) ("SBA" or the "Company") today reported results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. Highlights of the second quarter include: Net income attributable to SBA of $198.8 million or $1.87 per share Industry-leading AFFO per share of $3.05 Issued inaugural $3.5 billion investment grade senior notes and entered into a new expanded $2.5 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility subsequent to quarter end Ratings upgrade from S&P to BBB In addition, the Company announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.25 per share of the Company’s Class A Common Stock. The distribution is payable September 17, 2026 to the shareholders of record at the close of business on August 20, 2026. "We had another solid quarter, with financial and operating results in line with our expectations," commented Brendan Cavanagh, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Carrier activity remained steady, with our customers both upgrading sites and expanding their networks through new colocations. With Auction 115 around the corner, we’re excited about future network deployments and partnering with our customers to cement the U.S. as a leader in wireless connectivity and 6G. In the second quarter, we saw increased new tower construction as we ramped up efforts in Central America building sites for Millicom and others. We expect to continue seeing this production grow steadily throughout the year. Our balance sheet got even stronger as we completed our first investment grade bond offering, issuing $3.5 billion of senior unsecured notes, meaningfully reducing the amount of secured debt and laying a solid foundation for future financings. We also replaced our prior secured revolving credit facility with a new $2.5 billion unsecured revolving credit facility. With our enhanced liquidity and investment grade balance sheet, we expect to continue growing our dividend at the highest growth rate in the industry while investing in our portfolio and incremental shareholder returns through stock repurchases. We ended the quarter with net debt to Adjusted EBITDA of 6.4x, in the middle of our target range of 6.0x to 7.0x, leaving us plenty of capacity to do both." Operating Results The table below details select financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and comparisons to the prior year period. The table below details select financial results by segment for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and comparisons to the prior year period. The table below details key margins for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and comparisons to the prior year period. Investing Activities During the second quarter of 2026, SBA acquired 6 communication sites for total cash consideration of $10.5 million. SBA also built 109 towers during the second quarter of 2026. As of June 30, 2026, SBA owned or operated 46,390 communication sites, 17,362 of which are located in the United States and its territories and 29,028 of which are located internationally. In addition, the Company spent $17.2 million to purchase land and easements and to extend lease terms. Total cash capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2026 were $91.2 million, consisting of $15.8 million of non-discretionary cash capital expenditures (tower maintenance and general corporate) and $75.4 million of discretionary cash capital expenditures (new tower builds, tower augmentations, acquisitions, and purchasing land and easements). As of the date of this press release, the Company, subsequent to quarter end, purchased or is under contract to purchase 58 communication sites for an aggregate consideration of $28.8 million in cash, which it expects to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2026. Financing Activities and Liquidity SBA ended the second quarter of 2026 with $12.8 billion of total debt, $9.8 billion of total secured debt, $0.4 billion of cash and cash equivalents, short-term restricted cash, and short-term investments, and $12.4 billion of Net Debt. SBA’s Net Debt and Net Secured Debt to Annualized Adjusted EBITDA Leverage Ratios were 6.4x and 4.9x, respectively. On July 23, 2026, the Company, issued $1.35 billion of 4.875% unsecured senior notes due January 15, 2030, $1.35 billion of 5.150% unsecured senior notes due July 15, 2031, and $0.8 billion of 5.450% unsecured senior notes due July 15, 2033. The 2026 Senior Notes have a blended interest rate of 5.113% and a weighted average maturity of 4.9 years. Net proceeds from this offering were used to repay the aggregate principal amount outstanding on the Revolving Credit Facility ($1.0 billion), the 2024 Term Loan ($2.2 billion), and for general corporate purposes. In connection with the repayment, the Company terminated its existing Senior Credit Agreement and entered into a New Senior Credit Agreement providing for an expanded $2.5 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility (the "2026 Revolving Credit Facility"). The 2026 Revolving Credit Facility has a maturity date of July 23, 2031. Amounts borrowed under the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility accrue interest, at the Company’s election, at either (1) Term SOFR plus a margin that ranges from 75.0 basis points to 137.5 basis points or (2) the Base Rate plus a margin that ranges from 0.0 basis points to 37.5 basis points, in each case based on the Company’s credit ratings. In addition, the Company is required to pay a commitment fee of between 0.08% to 0.20% per annum on the amount of unused commitments based on the Company’s credit ratings. Based on the Company’s current credit ratings, borrowings under the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility accrue interest at Term SOFR plus 100.0 basis points and the Company is required to pay a commitment fee of 0.11% per annum on the amount of unused commitments. As of the date of this press release, the Company had no amounts outstanding under the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility. As of the date of this press release, the Company had $1.1 billion of authorization remaining under its stock repurchase plan. In the second quarter of 2026, the Company declared and paid a cash dividend of $132.7 million. Outlook The Company is updating its full year 2026 Outlook for anticipated results. The 2026 Outlook provided is based on a number of assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable at the time of this press release. Information regarding potential risks that could cause the actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements is set forth below and in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company’s full year 2026 Outlook assumes the acquisitions of only those communication sites under contract which are expected to close in 2026 at the time of this press release. The Company may spend additional capital in 2026 on acquiring revenue producing assets not yet identified or under contract, the impact of which is not reflected in the 2026 Outlook. The 2026 Outlook also does not contemplate any additional repurchases of the Company’s stock or additional debt financings during the remainder of 2026 (other than the refinancing of the 2021-1C Tower Securities as discussed below), although the Company may ultimately spend capital to repurchase stock or issue new debt during the remainder of the year. The Company’s 2026 Outlook assumes an average foreign currency exchange rate of 5.10 Brazilian Reais to 1.0 U.S. Dollar, 2,560 Tanzanian Shillings to 1.0 U.S. Dollar, and 16.40 South African Rand to 1.0 U.S. Dollar throughout the last two quarters of 2026. Bridge of 2025 Total Site Leasing Revenue to 2026 Outlook The table below presents a bridge of the Company’s 2025 Site Leasing Revenue to the Company’s 2026 Outlook for 2026 Site Leasing Revenue by reportable segment. Conference Call Information SBA Communications Corporation will host a conference call on Monday, August 3, 2026 at 5:00 PM (EDT) to discuss the quarterly results. The call may be accessed as follows: Information Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release and the Company’s earnings call include forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company’s expectations or beliefs regarding (i) its outlook for financial and operational performance in 2026, the assumptions it made and the drivers contributing to its full year 2026 Outlook, (ii) the drivers of growth for wireless antennae in the U.S. and in each of our international markets, the ability of the Company to capitalize on such growth and the impact on the Company’s future financial and operational outlook, (iii) the ability to execute its growth strategies and the impacts to its financial performance, (iv) the timing of closing for currently pending acquisitions, (v) tower portfolio growth and its long-term growth potential, including the drivers of its organic growth, (vi) its capital allocation policy, including the use of capital for portfolio growth, share repurchases, and dividends, (vii) the strength of its balance sheet and ability to generate significant free cash flow, (viii) its customers’ ongoing network investments and new spectrum and future auctions, (ix) domestic and international churn in 2026 and future years, (x) growth in tower construction, (xi) its ability to become a leader in U.S. wireless connectivity and 6G, (xii) its leading position in Central America, and (xiii) backlogs and carrier activity for the remainder of 2026. The Company wishes to caution readers that these forward-looking statements may be affected by the risks and uncertainties in the Company’s business as well as other important factors that may have affected and could in the future affect the Company’s actual results and could cause the Company’s actual results for subsequent periods to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement made by or on behalf of the Company. With respect to the Company’s expectations regarding all of these statements, including its financial and operational guidance, such risk factors include, but are not limited to: (1) the impact of macro-economic conditions, including high interest rates, unemployment rates, tariffs, inflation, consumer confidence and financial market volatility on (a) the ability and willingness of wireless service providers to maintain or increase their capital expenditures, (b) the Company’s business and results of operations, and on foreign currency exchange rates and (c) consumer discretionary income and demand for wireless services, (2) the Company’s ability to recognize anticipated revenues, tower cash flows and other anticipated benefits from its acquisitions, (3) the economic climate for the wireless communications industry in general and the wireless communications infrastructure providers in the United States and in the Company’s other international markets; (4) the Company’s ability to accurately identify and manage any risks associated with its acquired sites, to effectively integrate such sites into its business and to achieve the anticipated financial results; (5) the Company’s ability to secure and retain as many site leasing tenants as planned at anticipated lease rates; (6) the Company’s ability to manage expenses and cash capital expenditures at anticipated levels; (7) the impact of continued consolidation among wireless service providers in the U.S. and internationally, on the Company’s leasing revenue, including churn; (8) the Company’s ability to successfully manage the risks associated with international operations, including risks associated with foreign currency exchange rates; (9) the Company’s ability to secure and deliver anticipated services business at contemplated margins; (10) the Company’s ability to acquire land underneath towers on terms that are accretive; (11) the Company’s ability to obtain future financing at commercially reasonable rates or at all; (12) the Company’s ability to achieve the new builds targets included in its anticipated annual portfolio growth goals, which will depend, among other things, on obtaining zoning and regulatory approvals, availability and cost of labor and supplies, and other factors beyond the Company’s control that could affect the Company’s ability to build additional towers in 2026; (13) whether technology upgrades, spectrum auctions, consumer demand for fixed wireless and other developments will drive demand in the US and in the Company’s other international markets for wireless services, wireless antennas and towers as anticipated; (14) the ability of our customers to perform under their financial and contractual obligations; and (15) the Company’s ability to meet its total portfolio growth, which will depend, in addition to the new build risks, on the Company’s ability to identify and acquire sites at prices and upon terms that will provide accretive portfolio growth, competition from third parties for such acquisitions and our ability to negotiate the terms of, and acquire, these potential tower portfolios on terms that meet our internal return criteria. With respect to its expectations regarding the ability to close, and realize the benefits of, pending acquisitions, these factors also include each party satisfactorily completing due diligence, the ability to receive required regulatory approval, the ability and willingness of each party to fulfill their respective closing conditions and their contractual obligations and, with respect to the Company’s acquisitions, the amount and quality of due diligence that the Company is able to complete prior to closing of any acquisition and the availability of cash on hand or borrowing capacity under the Revolving Credit Facility to fund the consideration, its ability to accurately anticipate the future performance of the acquired towers and any challenges or costs associated with the integration of such towers. With respect to the repurchases under the Company’s stock repurchase program, the amount of shares repurchased, if any, and the timing of such repurchases will depend on, among other things, the trading price of the Company’s common stock, which may be positively or negatively impacted by the repurchase program, market and business conditions, the availability of stock, the Company’s financial performance or determinations following the date of this announcement in order to use the Company’s funds for other purposes. Furthermore, the Company’s forward-looking statements and its 2026 outlook assumes that the Company continues to qualify for treatment as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes and that the Company’s business is currently operated in a manner that complies with the REIT rules and that it will be able to continue to comply with and conduct its business in accordance with such rules. In addition, these forward-looking statements and the information in this press release is qualified in its entirety by cautionary statements and risk factor disclosures contained in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the Company’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K. This press release contains non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP financial measures and the other Regulation G information is presented below under "Non-GAAP Financial Measures." This press release will be available on our website at www.sbasite.com. About SBA Communications Corporation SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 46,000 communications sites throughout the Americas and in Africa, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization. For more information, please visit: www.sbasite.com. Selected Capital Expenditure Detail Communication Site Portfolio Summary Segment Operating Profit and Segment Operating Profit Margin Domestic site leasing and International site leasing are the two segments within our site leasing business. Segment operating profit is a key business metric and one of our two measures of segment profitability. The calculation of Segment operating profit for each of our segments is set forth below. Non-GAAP Financial Measures The press release contains non-GAAP financial measures including (i) Cash Site Leasing Revenue, Tower Cash Flow, and Tower Cash Flow Margin; (ii) Adjusted EBITDA, Annualized Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin; (iii) Funds from Operations ("FFO"), Adjusted Funds from Operations ("AFFO"), and AFFO per share; (iv) Net Debt, Net Secured Debt, Leverage Ratio, and Secured Leverage Ratio (collectively, our "Non-GAAP Debt Measures"); and (v) certain financial metrics after eliminating the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates (collectively, our "Constant Currency Measures"). We have included these non-GAAP financial measures because we believe that they provide investors additional tools in understanding our financial performance and condition. Specifically, we believe that: (1) Cash Site Leasing Revenue and Tower Cash Flow are useful indicators of the performance of our site leasing operations; (2) Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors or other interested parties in evaluating our financial performance. Adjusted EBITDA is the primary measure used by management (1) to evaluate the economic productivity of our operations and (2) for purposes of making decisions about allocating resources to, and assessing the performance of, our operations. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA helps investors or other interested parties meaningfully evaluate and compare the results of our operations (1) from period to period and (2) to our competitors, by excluding the impact of our capital structure (primarily interest charges from our outstanding debt) and asset base (primarily depreciation, amortization and accretion) from our financial results. Management also believes Adjusted EBITDA is frequently used by investors or other interested parties in the evaluation of REITs. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is similar to the measure of current financial performance generally used in our debt covenant calculations. Adjusted EBITDA should be considered only as a supplement to net income computed in accordance with GAAP as a measure of our performance; (3) FFO, AFFO and AFFO per share, which are metrics used by our public company peers in the communication site industry, provide investors useful indicators of the financial performance of our business and permit investors an additional tool to evaluate the performance of our business against those of our two principal competitors. FFO, AFFO, and AFFO per share are also used to address questions we receive from analysts and investors who routinely assess our operating performance on the basis of these performance measures, which are considered industry standards. We believe that FFO helps investors or other interested parties meaningfully evaluate financial performance by excluding the impact of our asset base (primarily depreciation, amortization and accretion and asset impairment and decommission costs). We believe that AFFO and AFFO per share help investors or other interested parties meaningfully evaluate our financial performance as they include (1) the impact of our capital structure (primarily interest expense on our outstanding debt) and (2) sustaining capital expenditures and exclude the impact of (1) our asset base (primarily depreciation, amortization and accretion and asset impairment and decommission costs) and (2) certain non-cash items, including straight-lined revenues and expenses related to fixed escalations and rent free periods and the non-cash portion of our reported tax provision. GAAP requires rental revenues and expenses related to leases that contain specified rental increases over the life of the lease to be recognized evenly over the life of the lease. In accordance with GAAP, if payment terms call for fixed escalations, or rent free periods, the revenue or expense is recognized on a straight-lined basis over the fixed, non-cancelable term of the contract. We only use AFFO as a performance measure. AFFO should be considered only as a supplement to net income computed in accordance with GAAP as a measure of our performance and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flows from operations or as residual cash flow available for discretionary investment. We believe our definition of FFO is consistent with how that term is defined by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("NAREIT") and that our definition and use of AFFO and AFFO per share is consistent with those reported by the other communication site companies; (4) Our Non-GAAP Debt Measures provide investors a more complete understanding of our net debt and leverage position as they include the full principal amount of our debt which will be due at maturity and, to the extent that such measures are calculated on Net Debt are net of our cash and cash equivalents, short-term restricted cash, and short-term investments; and (5) Our Constant Currency Measures provide management and investors the ability to evaluate the performance of the business without the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, Tower Cash Flow, Adjusted EBITDA, and our Non-GAAP Debt Measures are components of the calculations used by our lenders to determine compliance with certain covenants under our prior Senior Credit Agreement, New Senior Credit Agreement and indentures relating to our 2020 Senior Notes, 2021 Senior Notes, and 2026 Senior Notes. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be an alternative to any of the financial measures provided in our results of operations or our balance sheet as determined in accordance with GAAP. Financial Metrics after Eliminating the Impact of Changes In Foreign Currency Exchange Rates We eliminate the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates for each of the financial metrics listed in the table below by dividing the current period’s financial results by the average monthly exchange rates of the prior year period, and by eliminating the impact of the remeasurement of our intercompany loans. The table below provides the reconciliation of the reported year-over-year change of each of such measures to the change after eliminating the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates to such measure. Cash Site Leasing Revenue, Tower Cash Flow, and Tower Cash Flow Margin The table below sets forth the reconciliation of Cash Site Leasing Revenue and Tower Cash Flow to their most comparable GAAP measurement and Tower Cash Flow Margin, which is calculated by dividing Tower Cash Flow by Cash Site Leasing Revenue. Forecasted Tower Cash Flow for Full Year 2026 The table below sets forth the reconciliation of forecasted Tower Cash Flow set forth in the Outlook section to its most comparable GAAP measurement for the full year 2026: Adjusted EBITDA, Annualized Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin The table below sets forth the reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to its most comparable GAAP measurement. The calculation of Adjusted EBITDA Margin is as follows: Forecasted Adjusted EBITDA for Full Year 2026 The table below sets forth the reconciliation of the forecasted Adjusted EBITDA set forth in the Outlook section to its most comparable GAAP measurement for the full year 2026: Funds from Operations ("FFO"), Adjusted Funds from Operations ("AFFO"), and AFFO per share The tables below set forth the reconciliations of FFO, AFFO, and AFFO per share to their most comparable GAAP measurement. Forecasted AFFO for the Full Year 2026 The tables below set forth the reconciliations of the forecasted AFFO and AFFO per share set forth in the Outlook section to their most comparable GAAP measurements for the full year 2026: Net Debt, Net Secured Debt, Leverage Ratio, and Secured Leverage Ratio Net Debt is calculated using the notional principal amount of outstanding debt. Under GAAP policies, the notional principal amount of the Company's outstanding debt is not necessarily reflected on the face of the Company's financial statements. The Net Debt and Leverage calculations are as follows: View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260803875440/en/ Contacts Louis Friend, CFAVP, Finance & Capital Markets561-322-7850 Maria Alexandra VelezVP, Corporate Affairs561-981-7352

Interested in SBA Communications Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better. SBA Communications modestly raised its 2026 outlook for site leasing revenue, funds from operations (FFO) and FFO per share after reporting second-quarter results in line with expectations. Q2 FFO per share was $3.05, and the company declared a $1.25 quarterly dividend, about 13% above the prior-year payout. Leasing remained steady, but international churn stayed elevated because of carrier consolidations, bankruptcies and network rationalizations. SBA added approximately $9 million in U.S. and $4 million in international new lease and amendment billings, while expecting lower U.S. leasing contributions in the second half. SBA reshaped its capital structure and plans to prioritize share buybacks after issuing $3.5 billion of investment-grade bonds and repaying its term loan and revolver balances. Management considers repurchases more attractive than high-priced acquisitions, while longer-term growth could come from international tower construction, spectrum deployments and emerging edge-computing opportunities. SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) reported second-quarter results in line with its expectations and modestly increased its full-year 2026 outlook for site leasing revenue, funds from operations (FFO) and FFO per share, citing higher straight-line revenue and improved net cash interest expense. Chief Financial Officer Marc Montagner said second-quarter FFO per share was $3.05. The company paid a quarterly cash dividend of $1.25 per share and declared another $1.25-per-share dividend payable Sept. 17 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 20. The declared dividend is about 13% higher than the dividend paid in the prior-year period, according to Montagner. → Lost in Space: Why Aerospace Valuations Are Plummeting Right Now “We had another good quarter, and our results were in line with our expectation,” Montagner said. SBA said its companywide Tower Cash Flow margin was just under 80% during the quarter. In the U.S., SBA added about $9 million of new lease and amendment billings during the second quarter, with most activity coming from new co-locations as carriers densified networks and expanded coverage. Internationally, the company added about $4 million of new lease and amendment billings. → MarketBeat Week in Review – 07/27- 07/31 President and Chief Executive Officer Brendan Cavanagh said U.S. application volumes entering the second half remained relatively consistent with the first half of the year. One customer was more active than the others, though he said changing levels of activity among carriers were not unusual. The company expects U.S. new-leasing contributions to be lower in the second half than in the first half, consistent with its prior outlook. Cavanagh said the company had not changed that expectation. → GE HealthCare Stock Climbs on Vital Diagnostics Demand International demand remained healthy, though churn continued to be elevated because of carrier consolidations, bankruptcies, restructurings and network rationalizations. Cavanagh said SBA is working with customers on longer-term arrangements intended to provide more stable and predictable cash flow, sometimes involving rental relief in exchange for greater contractual certainty. SBA expects it is nearing the end of its period of heightened international churn, though Cavanagh declined to provide a specific outlook for next year while discussions with customers continue. In July, SBA issued $3.5 billion of unsecured investment-grade bonds, its first such offering. The company used net proceeds to fully repay its Term Loan B and outstanding balances under its revolving credit facility. As of the call, SBA’s revolver was fully paid down and it had about $570 million in cash. The offering included: $1.35 billion of notes due in 2030 with a 4.78% cash coupon; $1.35 billion of notes due in 2031 with a 5.15% cash coupon; and $800 million of notes due in 2033 with a 5.45% cash coupon. The bonds had a blended cash coupon of 5.11% and a weighted average maturity of five years. SBA also established a new unsecured revolving credit facility with $2.5 billion of capacity. Montagner said secured debt now represents less than 50% of the company’s debt following the transaction. SBA ended the quarter with approximately $13 billion in total debt and net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA leverage of 6.4 times, within its target range of 6 to 7 times. In June, S&P upgraded SBA’s credit rating to BBB from BBB-. The company continues to assume that its $1.2 billion asset-backed securities maturity in November will be refinanced at a 5.25% rate. While SBA expects to benefit from its investment-grade status, Cavanagh noted that some debt being refinanced had lower rates than current market borrowing costs. Cavanagh said SBA intends to resume share repurchases in the second half of 2026 after completing its July refinancing. He said management views buybacks as the best use of capital at current valuation levels and characterized the company’s shares as trading below what management believes is their intrinsic value. The company will continue building towers and considering acquisitions, but Cavanagh said the limited supply of U.S. assets available for purchase generally carries valuations substantially higher than SBA’s own valuation. As a result, he said repurchasing shares is currently more attractive than pursuing acquisitions that could be dilutive. SBA expects to build roughly 600 new towers during 2026, primarily in Central America, with a meaningful number also planned in Tanzania. The company built 99 towers in the second quarter, up from 75 in the first quarter. Cavanagh said construction activity should rise in each successive quarter through the rest of the year. New tower construction has offered stronger returns internationally than in the U.S., where competition has at times compressed potential returns, according to Cavanagh. He said SBA sees opportunities in Africa and Central America and expects risk-adjusted returns on international builds to exceed its cost of capital, often beginning on the first day of operation. Cavanagh pointed to future spectrum auctions as potential long-term sources of equipment deployments and leasing growth. The Federal Communications Commission adopted a plan to auction 160 megahertz of Upper C-band spectrum beginning in April 2027. Combined with previously auctioned Lower C-band spectrum, the auction would create 440 megahertz of contiguous mid-band spectrum for wireless use. He said the FCC’s build-out conditions, including population-coverage requirements and automatic license termination for failure to meet a later benchmark, should encourage spectrum holders to deploy their licenses. However, Cavanagh said the new spectrum opportunities are more likely to affect results over the next five or more years rather than materially influence next year’s leasing growth. SBA also sees potential opportunities in edge computing. Cavanagh said the company is speaking with multiple parties interested in more distributed computing architectures that use power- and fiber-connected locations to reduce latency, improve redundancy and support artificial intelligence-oriented applications. He said developments could emerge over the next 12 months, though he did not identify customers or provide financial estimates. Management said roughly half of SBA’s U.S. portfolio could be well suited to the edge-computing uses currently under discussion. The facilities being considered would generally be smaller than one-megawatt deployments, Cavanagh said. On satellite direct-to-device services, Cavanagh said SBA views satellite connectivity as complementary to terrestrial wireless networks rather than a replacement. He said satellite providers seeking to offer ubiquitous, high-quality service competitive with traditional mobile networks would likely need terrestrial network components. SBA has spoken with multiple satellite providers, he said, but characterized the discussions as early stage. While some rural or fringe tower locations could face competitive pressure from satellite service, Cavanagh said SBA’s internal analysis suggests those sites represent no more than roughly 2% to 3% of its portfolio, while satellite data could also help identify locations where additional terrestrial infrastructure is needed. SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops wireless communications infrastructure. Its core business is the leasing of space on communications towers, rooftop sites and other wireless structures to mobile network operators, broadband providers and other wireless service customers. The company also provides site development, construction and ongoing site management services to support the deployment and operation of wireless networks. In addition to traditional macro towers, SBA offers a range of infrastructure solutions designed for dense urban and suburban markets, including small cells, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and fiber backhaul and transport services. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "SBA Communications Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

SBA Communications Corporation SBAC is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 results on Aug. 3, after market close. While the company’s quarterly results might display a rise in revenues year over year, adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share is expected to decline. In the last reported quarter, this Boca Raton, FL-based communications tower REIT reported an AFFO per share of $3.01, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.86. Results reflected a growth in revenues during the quarter. However, higher costs and interest expenses undermined the performance to some extent. Over the preceding four quarters, SBAC’s AFFO per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate on three occasions and missed in the remaining period, the average beat being 2.11%. The graph below depicts this surprising history: SBA Communications Corporation price-eps-surprise | SBA Communications Corporation Quote In the second quarter, SBA Communications is likely to have benefited from steady carrier spending on network expansion and 5G deployments, supporting leasing activity through new colocations and site upgrades. Its long-term contracts with built-in escalators are likely to have ensured stable site-leasing revenues, while services tied to network construction may have added to growth. However, SBAC’s performance may have been affected by customer concentration and tenant churn, potentially pressuring leasing activity and growth. Higher interest expenses and a leveraged balance sheet are likely to have been additional headwinds. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter site-leasing revenues, which account for the lion’s share of total revenues, is pegged at $658 million, indicating an increase from the year-ago quarter’s $631.8 million. Site-development revenues are expected to decrease in the second quarter. The consensus mark stands at $49.9 million, implying a fall from $67.2 million reported in the year-ago period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for total quarterly revenues is pegged at $703.4 million, calling for year-over-year growth of 0.6%. The company’s activities in the to-be-reported quarter were adequate to garner analysts’ confidence. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly AFFO per share has increased two cents to $2.96 over the past three months. However, the figure implies a year-over-year decline of 6.6%. Our proven model does not conclusively predict a surprise in terms of AFFO per share for SBA Communications this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an AFFO beat, which is not the case here. SBA Communications currently has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Here are two stocks from the broader REIT industry — Host Hotels & Resorts HST and Lamar Advertising LAMR — that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to report a surprise this quarter. Host Hotels is slated to report quarterly numbers on Aug. 5. HST has an Earnings ESP of +1.73% and carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. LAMR, which is scheduled to report quarterly numbers on Aug. 6, has an Earnings ESP of +0.22% and a Zacks Rank of 3. Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SBA Communications Corporation (SBAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (HST) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lamar Advertising Company (LAMR) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research