Crown Castle Q3 Profit Beats Estimates; Site Rental Revenues Up Approx. 6%

(RTTNews) - Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI) reported that its third-quarter income from continuing operations decreased to $98.37 million from $104.30 million, prior year. Income per share from continuing operations was $0.26 compared to $0.28. The company said its net income for third quarter 2016 was negatively impacted by approximately $10 million in losses on retirement of long-term obligations related to refinancing activities during the quarter.

Third-quarter AFFO increased to $416 million from $356 million. AFFO per share was $1.23 compared to $1.07. On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $1.18 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Third-quarter net revenues were $992.02 million compared to $918.11 million, a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected revenue of $968.15 million, for the quarter. Site rental revenues grew approximately 6% to $812.03 million.

For the fourth-quarter, the company expects AFFO per share in a range of $1.16 to $1.18. Analysts expect profit per share of $1.20 for the quarter. For fiscal 2016, the company expects AFFO per share in a range of $4.72 to $4.73. Analysts expect fiscal 2016 profit per share of $4.68. For fiscal 2017, the company expects AFFO per share in a range of $4.97 to $5.05.

Crown Castle's Board has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.95 per common share, representing an increase of approximately 7% over the previous quarterly dividend. The quarterly dividend will be payable on December 30, 2016 to common stockholders of record at the close of business on December 16, 2016.