SBA Communications (SBAC) Competitors

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Is SBAC or CCI a better dividend stock?

SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $4.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $6.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. SBA Communications pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crown Castle pays out -58.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Crown Castle is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts recommend SBAC or CCI?

SBA Communications presently has a consensus target price of $252.38, suggesting a potential upside of 4.31%. Crown Castle has a consensus target price of $111.47, suggesting a potential upside of 4.25%. Given SBA Communications' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Crown Castle.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SBA Communications	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.79
Crown Castle	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Which has more volatility & risk, SBAC or CCI?

SBA Communications has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crown Castle has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SBAC or CCI more profitable?

SBA Communications has a net margin of 25.76% compared to Crown Castle's net margin of 18.59%. Crown Castle's return on equity of 20.98% beat SBA Communications' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SBA Communications	25.76%	-13.13%	6.83%
Crown Castle	18.59%	20.98%	3.20%

Does the media prefer SBAC or CCI?

In the previous week, SBA Communications had 27 more articles in the media than Crown Castle. MarketBeat recorded 57 mentions for SBA Communications and 30 mentions for Crown Castle. SBA Communications' average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Crown Castle's score of 0.96 indicating that SBA Communications is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SBA Communications	27 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Crown Castle	18 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, SBAC or CCI?

Crown Castle has higher revenue and earnings than SBA Communications. Crown Castle is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SBA Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SBA Communications	$2.69B	9.69	$501.81M	$7.29	33.19
Crown Castle	$6.57B	7.09	$1.50B	-$10.76	-9.94

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SBAC or CCI?

97.3% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Crown Castle shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of SBA Communications shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SBAC or CCI?

SBA Communications received 72 more outperform votes than Crown Castle when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.73% of users gave Crown Castle an outperform vote while only 67.09% of users gave SBA Communications an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SBA Communications	Outperform Votes 838 67.09%	Underperform Votes 411 32.91%
Crown Castle	Outperform Votes 766 67.73%	Underperform Votes 365 32.27%

Summary

SBA Communications beats Crown Castle on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.