Crown Castle Inc (CCI) stock analysis
Crown Castle Inc (CCI) clears 2 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 5 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 1 of 5 Lynch-style checks. A free-cash-flow DCF does not fit real estate companies, so no margin of safety is shown. It returns +6.0% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Crown Castle do?
Crown Castle is a REIT that owns cell towers in the US and leases space on them to wireless carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
What stands out about Crown Castle?
- Misses 3 of the 8 value filters. It fails Trailing P/E < 25 (39.13), Price/Sales < 7 (8.10) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-67.5%); the other 2 pass and 3 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Strongest against peers: return on equity. At 21% (peer median 8%) it ranks 5th of 30 among real estate stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Returns 6.0% of its value to owners a year. Dividends plus buybacks, minus the stock issued to staff, as a share of market value. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Dividend raises 3 of 6 flags. Its trailing yield is 5.51%. See the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
How has Crown Castle's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Crown Castle undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) n/a (Real Estate)
- P/E vs. its own history 39.1x · near the cheap end Real range: 33.3x–87.5x over 4 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 3.74/5 27 analysts this month: 6 strong buy, 10 buy, 9 hold, 2 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Down from 3.81 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) n/a (Real Estate)
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) n/a (bank, insurer or REIT)
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +6.0% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 6.2% + buybacks 0.1% − stock comp 0.2%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count rose 53%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) n/a (bank, insurer, lender or REIT)
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) n/a (no PEG reported)
- Compounder lenses (4) 1 of 4 · misses capital-light (n/a), real profit (n/a), price (n/a) Capital-light growth: cannot be measured (bank, insurer, lender or REIT); Profit is real: cannot be measured (bank, insurer or REIT); Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): cannot be measured (no PEG reported). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Munger's Inversion Check 1 flag
- Standing vs. sector peers 2 of 4 measures above the median Compared with the 29 other real estate stocks this site tracks: 2 in the top third, 0 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 3/6 flags
How does Crown Castle compare with its peers?
2 of 4 measures sit above the median of the 29 other real estate stocks tracked here, 2 in the top third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 31.5× 39.1× –18th of 29
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 8% 21% ✓5th of 30
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 20.9% 20.7% –17th of 30
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 4.08% 5.51% ✓6th of 28
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and CCI doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: CCI is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, converts sales into profit at healthy margins, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: CCI carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, and doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✓
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and CCI falls short of his bar. In its favor: CCI is backing its growth up with real free cash flow. Where it comes up short: CCI fails his signature PEG test, he'd call this pricey for the growth on offer, is growing earnings outside the 10–25% range he considered the sustainable sweet spot, is leaning on more debt than he liked a growth story to carry, and is asking investors to pay a steep multiple for that growth.
- PEG < 1 n/a
- EPS growth 10%-25% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- P/E < 27 ✕
- Price/FCF < 30 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Crown Castle pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $33.7B
- Trailing P/E < 25 39.13
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 n/a
- Price/Book < 8 6.37
- Price/Sales < 7 8.10
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% -67.5%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Crown Castle's margin of safety?
A standard free-cash-flow DCF doesn't fit how real estate companies report cash flow.
Where is Crown Castle in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Crown Castle?
9,511,771 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Crown Castle? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case n/a (Real Estate)
- Short interest under 5% of float 2.2%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 3/6 passed
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Crown Castle shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from CCI's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Crown Castle's 10-year financials show?
From CCI's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Crown Castle
What kind of company is Crown Castle?
Crown Castle is a REIT that owns cell towers in the US and leases space on them to wireless carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. This site groups it with Real Estate stocks.
Why does Crown Castle have no margin of safety on this site?
This site's DCF values a company from its free cash flow, and that does not fit real-estate companies, which are valued on property income rather than on free cash flow. So CCI gets no margin of safety; judge it on the other checks on this page, such as its filters, shareholder yield and ranking against its peers. The method is in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Crown Castle pass?
CCI passes 2 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($33.7B) and Price/Book < 8 (6.37). It misses Trailing P/E < 25 (39.13), Price/Sales < 7 (8.10) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-67.5%). PEG Ratio < 1.5, vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Does Crown Castle pass the Buffett-style and Lynch-style checklists?
On this site's Buffett-style checklist CCI clears 5 of 8 checks and leans no; it misses Debt/Equity < 0.5, EPS growth (5yr) > 7% and Interest coverage > 5x. On the Lynch-style checklist it clears 1 of 5 and leans no, with Unknown as its Lynch category; it misses PEG < 1, EPS growth 10%-25% and Debt/Equity < 0.5 and 1 more. These are this site's own rules written in the style of each investor, not their personal views; the rules are in the Editorial Standards.
How much cash does Crown Castle return to shareholders?
CCI's net shareholder yield is +6.0%: the cash it returns through dividends and buybacks, minus stock-based compensation, as a share of its market value. Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 6.2% + buybacks 0.1% − stock comp 0.2%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count rose 53%. Its trailing dividend yield is 5.51%, paid out of 77% of its free cash flow; the dividend-sustainability check raises 3 of 6 flags (high leverage, weak interest coverage and declining revenue). See Shareholder Yield Leaders and the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
How fast has Crown Castle grown its revenue and profit?
From fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2025, CCI's revenue grew from $3.9 billion to $4.3 billion, 0.9% a year. Net income went from $357 million to $444 million, and its net profit margin from 9.1% to 10.4%. Earnings per share went from $1.05 to $1.02 on today's share count, -0.3% a year. All figures are from CCI's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR) and are shown year by year in the 10-Year Financials section of the card above.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Crown Castle's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 23, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Crown Castle Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Crown Castle Inc (CCI) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.