Start here if you're new
what it is
SBAC owns towers and rooftop sites, then charges carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon to hang antennas on them.
how it gets paid
Last year Sba Communications made $244M in revenue. Domestic site leasing was the main engine at $134M, or 55% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 59.9% last year. The quarter still looked strong on growth. Revenue rose 152% vs. prior year.
what just happened
Revenue hit $191M, while EPS came in at $3.47 and fell short of the $3.52 estimate.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
25/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
19.6x trailing p/e — priced about right
2.4% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
12.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 58/100 — below average
What they do
SBAC owns towers and rooftop sites, then charges carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon to hang antennas on them.
You do not casually move a carrier off a tower. SBAC owns the physical spots your phone depends on, and it already serves giants like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon across the U.S., South America, Central America, Canada, and Africa. With about 5,000 sites bought from Millicom in the first nine months of 2025, the company keeps adding locations where your coverage has to keep working.
How they make money
$244M
annual revenue · their business grew +59.9% last year
Domestic site leasing
$134M
+60.0%
International site leasing
$61M
+59.9%
Site development services
$29M
+59.9%
Tower and rooftop sublicasing
$20M
+59.9%
The products that matter
leases space on wireless towers
Tower Leasing
$244M revenue figure shown
this is the business. the page shows $244M in revenue and 59.9% growth compared to last year, which tells you tenancy and acquired sites are doing the work.
core revenue stream
develops and acquires new sites
Site Expansion
5,000 sites acquired
roughly 5,000 sites were purchased from Millicom during the first nine months of 2025. that's how SBA extends its footprint without waiting for carriers to build demand from scratch.
scale driver
latin america footprint buildout
International Expansion
44,500 sites total
the overseas push matters because 44,500 sites gives SBA reach, but new geography also brings integration risk. more towers help only if they fill with paying tenants.
execution bet
Key numbers
n/a
operating margin
Prior margin KPI failed sanity check — verify in filings. Operating margin → profit left after running the business → so what: this model throws off far more accounting profit than a normal operator, which is why investors tolerate the leverage.
$11.9B
long-term debt
Long-term debt → money owed over many years → so what: rates matter a lot when your debt equals 37% of capital.
$9.25
FY2026 EPS est
EPS, or earnings per share → profit for each share you own → so what: 2026 profit is expected to sit below 2025's $9.85, so you are buying durability, not a clean acceleration story.
19.6x
trailing p/e
P/E → price divided by annual profit → so what: you are paying about $19.60 for each $1 of trailing earnings, which is not cheap for a debt-heavy REIT.
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 80 / 100
- long-term debt $11.9B (37% of capital)
- net profit margin 35.8% — keeps 36 cents of every dollar in revenue
B++ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in SBAC 3 years ago → it's now worth $7,060.
The index would have given you $13,920.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue hit $191M, while EPS came in at $3.47 and fell short of the $3.52 estimate.
The quarter still looked strong on growth. Revenue rose 152% vs. prior year, and EPS was up 116%, but the market cares about the number versus the whisper, not your feelings.
$191M
revenue
$3.47
eps
n/a
gross margin
the number that mattered
The key number was the 1.42% EPS miss versus the $3.52 estimate, because this stock already trades on confidence in steady cash generation.
-
sba communications is well positioned in a promising marketplace.specifically, the reit is one of the largest cell tower operators, with over 44,500 communication sites strategically located across the u.s. and overseas.
-
over the years, sba has expanded through acquisitions and by developing new assets.
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during the first nine months of 2025, the reit had purchased roughly 5,000 sites from millicom.
-
the goal of these acquisitions is to help sba extend its reach across latin america.
-
the reit’s core business has been making modest progress lately.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is higher refinancing costs on $11.9B of long-term debt.
med
refinancing gets expensive fast
Tower businesses can carry more debt than most sectors because lease revenue is sticky. That does not make debt free. SBA has $11.9B of long-term borrowings, equal to 37% of capital.
If borrowing costs rise by 1% across that stack, annual interest expense rises by about $119M. That money cannot go to dividends, buybacks, or new towers.
med
5,000 acquired sites still have to earn their keep
SBA bought roughly 5,000 sites from Millicom in the first nine months of 2025. Acquisitions make growth look good on arrival. The harder part is filling those sites with profitable tenancy.
If new sites add footprint without enough tenant revenue, margins compress and the acquisition story turns into a debt story.
med
the data feed is telling two stories at once
This page shows $244M revenue in one section, $76M in the earnings card, and a $3B fiscal estimate in key numbers. Some of that is timing. Some of it looks like reporting mismatch.
When the revenue base looks fuzzy, you have less confidence in valuation shorthand. That matters more in a stock already carrying a below-average composite score.
The risk stack is concentrated: debt is measurable, acquisition integration is watchable, and the messy revenue presentation lowers confidence even when the underlying margins look good.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
does the 33.9% net margin hold
that margin is the proof this is still a tower cash-flow story. if it slips while debt stays high, the stock gets less defensive.
risk
refinancing pressure on $11.9B of debt
you are not just tracking rates. you are tracking what those rates do to cash left over after interest expense.
calendar
next management update on acquired sites
the market will want proof that the roughly 5,000 Millicom towers are adding rentable capacity, not just headline scale.
trend
growth after the big comparison year
59.9% growth compared to last year is eye-catching. the next question is what the business looks like once the easy comparisons are gone.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
average
momentum score 3. in human-speak, analysts see a stock acting normal, not one breaking out on new information.
risk profile
average
stability score 3. you're not looking at a bunker stock, but you're also not looking at chaos.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3. the chart is not making a bold case on its own.
earnings predictability
25 / 100
low predictability means quarter-to-quarter noise is part of the package. you should expect surprises, not smoothness.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
301 buyers vs. 400 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.1B shares.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$163
$282
$193
current price
$223
target midpoint · +15% from current · 3-5yr high: $430 (+125% · 24% ann'l return)
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