Crown Castle (CCI) Competitors

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

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

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

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 2.0%. Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. SBA Communications pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crown Castle pays out -39.5% 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. SBA Communications has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Crown Castle is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SBAC or CCI?

SBA Communications received 70 more outperform votes than Crown Castle when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.63% of users gave Crown Castle an outperform vote while only 67.07% of users gave SBA Communications an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SBA Communications	Outperform Votes 839 67.07%	Underperform Votes 412 32.93%
Crown Castle	Outperform Votes 769 67.63%	Underperform Votes 368 32.37%

Which has more volatility and risk, SBAC or CCI?

SBA Communications has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crown Castle has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% 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 favor SBAC or CCI?

In the previous week, Crown Castle had 11 more articles in the media than SBA Communications. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Crown Castle and 6 mentions for SBA Communications. Crown Castle's average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat SBA Communications' score of 1.25 indicating that Crown Castle is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SBA Communications	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Crown Castle	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, 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	8.99	$501.81M	$7.29	30.83
Crown Castle	$6.52B	6.64	$1.50B	-$10.76	-9.24

Do analysts recommend SBAC or CCI?

SBA Communications presently has a consensus target price of $253.43, indicating a potential upside of 12.76%. Crown Castle has a consensus target price of $112.71, indicating a potential upside of 13.41%. Given Crown Castle's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than SBA Communications.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SBA Communications	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
Crown Castle	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65

Summary

Crown Castle beats SBA Communications on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.