SBA Communications (SBAC)
Real Estate · $18.8B market cap · SEC CIK 0001034054
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Nov 2, 2026, with analysts expecting $2.13 in earnings per share.
The case for SBAC
- Generated $1.1B of free cash flow in FY2025, 436% of revenue.
- 35% of revenue drops through to net profit.
- Gross margin of 75% absorbs cost shocks.
- Pays a modest 1.5% dividend.
- P/E of 19.0× is lower than 90% of Real Estate companies.
The case against
- Long-term debt of $11.0B would take 8 years of operating cash flow to repay.
- Priced at 6.6× sales with revenue growing only 5.4%.
- Owes more than it owns: shareholder equity is -$4.9B, usually the result of buybacks funded with debt. ROE and price-to-book mean little here.
- Current liabilities exceed current assets (ratio 0.17).
- Growth is weak (41/100): revenue +5.4%, EPS +14.1%, +6.2% a year over five years.
- The price trend is weak (30/100): -11.5% over a year, -5.7% over three months, 22% of the way up its 52-week range.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Real Estate companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 74 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 41 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 85 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 30 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 31 |
- Shareholder equity is negative, so return on equity, price-to-book and debt-to-equity are left out.
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 31 Real Estate companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 19.0× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | n/m (negative equity) |
| Price / sales | 6.6× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +5.4% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +14.1% |
| Gross margin | 75% |
| Operating margin | 48% |
| Net margin | 35% |
| Return on assets | 8.6% (ROE not meaningful: negative equity) |
| Debt / equity | n/m (negative equity) |
| Current ratio | 0.17 |
| Dividend yield | 1.46% |
| Beta | 0.99 |
| 52-week range | $162.41 – $224.46 |
| Position in that range | 22% of the way up |
| 3-month return | -5.7% |
| 1-year return | -11.5% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from SBA Communications's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $244M | $153M | $195M | $297M | $205M |
| Gross profit | $2.1B | $2.1B | $2.1B | $2.0B | $1.8B |
| Operating income | $1.3B | $1.4B | $924M | $925M | $782M |
| Net income | $1.1B | $750M | $502M | $461M | $238M |
| Operating cash flow | $1.3B | $1.3B | $1.5B | $1.3B | $1.2B |
| Capital expenditure | $225M | $228M | $237M | $214M | $134M |
| Total assets | $11.6B | $11.4B | $10.2B | $10.6B | $9.8B |
| Shareholder equity | -$4.9B | -$5.1B | -$5.2B | -$5.3B | -$5.3B |
| Cash | $265M | $190M | $209M | $144M | $367M |
| Long-term debt | $11.0B | $12.4B | $11.7B | $12.8B | $12.3B |
| Free cash flow | $1.1B | $1.1B | $1.3B | $1.1B | $1.1B |
| Gross margin | 868.8% | 1372.4% | 1078.3% | 661.8% | 861.2% |
| Operating margin | 549.2% | 939.2% | 474.5% | 311.7% | 382.2% |
| Net margin | 430.9% | 490.3% | 257.8% | 155.4% | 116.1% |
| Diluted shares | 108M | 108M | 109M | 109M | 111M |
Share count is down 3.3% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
What SBA Communications says it does
We are a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, including tower structures, rooftops, and other structures that support antennas used for wireless communications, which we collectively refer to as "towers" or "sites." Our principal operations are in the United States and its territories. In addition, we own and operate towers in South America, Central America, and Africa. During the year ended December 31, 2025, we sold all of our towers and ended our operations in both the Philippines and Colombia and sold substantially all of our operations in Canada. Our primary business line is our site leasing business, which contributed 97.9% of our total segment operating profit for the year ended December 31, 2025. In our site leasing business, we (1) lease space to wireless service providers and other customers on assets that we own or operate and (2) manage rooftop and tower sites for property owners…
Risk factors SBAC lists in its 10-K
- Segment operating profit as a percentage of
- Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
- Revenue Recognition and Accounts Receivable
- Revenue from Contracts with Customers
- Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
- Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures
- Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted
- Income Statement – Reporting Comprehensive Income – Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses
- Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Internal-Use Software
- Year Ended 2025 Compared to Year Ended 2024
- Revenues and Segment Operating Profit
- Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses
- Acquisition and New Business Initiatives Related Adjustments and Expenses
- Asset Impairment and Decommission Costs