SBA Communications sees 2016 growth outpacing 2015’s full year projections

In Daily News Briefs by Wireless Estimator

In providing SBA Communications Corporation’s Q3 earnings report today, President and CEO Jeffrey Stoops said, “Our backlogs continue to grow, and our initial 2016 outlook reflects a higher domestic organic growth rate than we now expect for full year 2015.  Our portfolio continues to grow as well.  We now own over 25,000 sites.”

Florida-based SBA Communications is looking forward to a  higher domestic organic growth rate than they now expect for fully year 2015.

Florida-based SBA Communications is looking forward to a higher domestic organic growth rate in 2016 than they now expect for full year 2015.

“Our customers remain active,” Stoops said, “and we continue to see solid backlogs of pending leasing business both domestically and internationally. We expect to once again achieve our annual goal of 5% to 10% portfolio growth by year-end, while maintaining our disciplined approach to capital allocation.  We are excited for the opportunities that we believe 2016 will bring, ranging from continued network deployments by existing customers, the start of AWS-3 deployments in the U.S., new spectrum auctions, and our goal of investing substantial amounts of capital in portfolio growth and stock repurchases not yet reflected in our initial 2016 outlook.  We look forward to a solid finish in 2015, and another strong year in 2016.”

The company reported a loss of $155.9 million in its third quarter.

SBA said it had a loss of $1.23 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and asset impairment costs, came to 10 cents per share.

The results met Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for earnings of 10 cents per share.

Total revenues in the third quarter of 2015 were $410.7 million compared to $393.3 million in the year earlier period, an increase of 4.4%. Site leasing revenue of $372.0 million increased 6.6% over the year earlier period. Domestic cash site leasing revenue was $306.9 million in the third quarter of 2015 compared to $283.8 million in the year earlier period, an increase of 8.1%. International cash site leasing revenue was $53.5 million in the third quarter of 2015 compared to $48.8 million in the year earlier period, an increase of 9.7%.