SBA Communications (SBAC) To Report Q2 Earnings: What's Up?

SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) is scheduled to report second-quarter 2019 results on Jul 29, after the closing bell. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 4%. Notably, SBA Communications surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 2.9%.

The communications tower operator is likely to report higher year-over-year revenues in both the operating segments on the back of solid domestic and international site leasing activity, excellent services, and cost-control initiatives. It continues to focus on finding accretive tower opportunities to create additional shareholder value.

Let’s find out how things are shaping up prior to the announcement.

SBA Communications is well positioned to drive its business supported by strong customer activity in both domestic and international markets, coupled with a healthy U.S. backlog. Beginning second quarter, the company owned or operated 29,687 communication sites, of which, 16,289 are located in the United States.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues from Site Leasing business, which accounts for the lion’s share of total revenues, is pegged at $454 million, up from $430 million reported in second-quarter 2018. While domestic site leasing revenues are expected to improve to $365 million from $347 million reported a year ago, international site leasing revenues are likely to increase to $89 million from $83 million.

Revenues from Site Development operations are estimated to be $38.3 million compared with $26.4 million reported in the prior-year quarter. For the June quarter, the consensus estimate for total revenues stands at $492 million. The company reported $456 million in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share is pegged at $2.03. It reported AFFO of $1.83 per share in the prior-year quarter.

In addition, operating profit from Site Leasing is expected to increase to $361 million from $279 million reported in the year-earlier quarter, while the same from Site Development is likely to improve to $9 million from $5.7 million.

Management believes that the synergies of favorable demand environment, operational efficiency and strategic capital allocation will help it to drive shareholder value by producing material growth in AFFO per share. However, the company remains susceptible to risk of earnings volatility due to unfavorable foreign currency movements on account of its geographically diverse scale of operations.

What Our Model Says

Our proven model does not conclusively show that SBA Communications is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter as it does not possess one of the two key components. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is not the case here as you’ll see below:

Earnings ESP: SBA Communications’ Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is 0.00% as both are pegged at $2.03. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

SBA Communications Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Zacks Rank: SBA Communications currently has a Zacks Rank #3, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the company’s 0.00% Earnings ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) with an Earnings ESP of +2.15% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) with an Earnings ESP of +15.07% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Clearway Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CWEN) with an Earnings ESP of +15.00% and a Zacks Rank #1.

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