WHAT A DIFFERENCE CLOSE TO TWO DECADES CAN MAKE – On October 14, 2002, SBA Communications was trading at $0.19 a share. Yesterday, the stock closed at $296.90. The company, which could have faced being delisted because its share price was under $1.00 for 116 days, is now the highest-priced publicly traded towerco and is an S&P 500 company.
Crown Castle (CCI NYSE), American Tower (AMT NYSE) and SBA Communications’ (SBAC NASDAQ) stocks turned lower again this morning after tumbling yesterday.
Down $5.21 at 10:30 p.m. today, yesterday, SBAC lost $1.76, closing at $296.90. AMT closed at $248.88 yesterday losing $3.42. This morning the stock was down $4.01. Yesterday’s loss for CCI was $3.80 when the stock closed yesterday at $183.90. This morning’s loss is another $1.60.
But long-term investors have done remarkably well over the years and if they were able to purchase these stocks when they hit their all-time low, they made out marvelously, many becoming millionaires.
For all three towercos their lows happened in late 2002 as a result of the dotcom bubble burst and market uncertainty following 9/11. Plus financial analysts said, “It’s the cash flow, stupid, not the number of sticks in the air begging for tenants.”
CROWN CASTLE
If you invested $3,200 in Crown Castle, the total for the three rounds of pandemic payments, when it was at $1.00 on August 12, 2002, yesterday you would have gained $585,280, plus the REIT’s dividends.
AMERICAN TOWER
On October 11, 2002, American Tower was trading at $0.60. Under the same circumstances, today you would have earned $1,324,160.
SBA COMMUNICATIONS
However, the motherload of money would have come from an investment in SBA when it traded at $0.19 three days after American Tower hit rock bottom. Yesterday’s profit would have been $4,997,221.
For months on end, SBA could have been delisted since the exchanges can trigger that action if a stock remains below $1.00 for 30 days. SBA trafficked in that territory for 116 days. American Tower traded below a dollar for 15 days.
COLONY CAPITAL
Marc Ganzi-led Colony Capital (CLNY NYSE), which has spent the last 18 months pivoting to digital infrastructure from traditional real estate, could have been acquired for $1.33 a share on March 19, 2020.
This morning, the stock is just below its 52-week high at $7.12, and would have seen the pandemic’s $3,200 investment return $13,930 in a little over a year.