Crown Castle lifts 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance by $25 million as revenue keeps falling

Crown Castle Inc. raised the midpoint of its full-year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA outlook by $25 million to $2.72 billion and its AFFO midpoint by $5 million to $1.98 billion on October 21, even as third-quarter site rental revenues fell 4.5% from a year earlier to $966 million. Net income dropped to $283 million, or $0.67 per diluted share, from $323 million a year earlier, while AFFO rose 8% to $530 million, or $1.24 a share.

Guidance moves on straight-lined revenue and lower costs

Crown Castle raised its full-year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA midpoint by $25 million, to $2.72 billion, and its AFFO midpoint by $5 million, to $1.98 billion. Of the revenue components, only straight-lined revenues change: they rise $20 million on contractual term extensions, and the site rental revenue midpoint rises by the same $20 million, to $3.88 billion, while site rental billings stay at $3.81 billion to $3.84 billion. Even with the raise, the $2.72 billion Adjusted EBITDA midpoint is 5% below the $2.86 billion reported for 2025. A $5 million reduction in site rental costs of operations reflects more ground lease buyout activity and operational efficiencies, and discretionary capital expenditures rise $40 million for the same land purchases. "We are increasing our full year 2026 guide for Adjusted EBITDA by $25 million and AFFO by $5 million to reflect higher ground lease buyout activity, additional operational efficiencies, and the impact of a customer agreement," Chief Financial Officer Sunit Patel said in the release. The release also says the company expects to finish the year "towards the bottom end" of its $60 million to $70 million range for core leasing activity.

DISH terminations cut site rental revenue 4.5%

Third-quarter site rental revenues fell to $966 million from $1.01 billion, a 4.5% decline from a year earlier. The release attributes that year-over-year drop to $61 million of DISH terminations and $5 million of Sprint cancellations, offset by $35 million of organic contribution to site rental billings, equal to 3.5% organic growth before those items. Excluding DISH revenue from the prior-year base, organic growth was 3.8%, against 4.1% in the third quarter of 2025. Two accounting lines also moved against the comparison: straight-lined revenues were $14 million lower than a year earlier and amortization of prepaid rent was $3 million lower. Net income fell to $283 million, or $0.67 a diluted share, from $323 million a year earlier, though the prior-year quarter carried $46 million of income from discontinued operations that the 2026 quarter did not: income from continuing operations was $283 million, against $277 million. Adjusted EBITDA fell 6% to $673 million. AFFO rose 8% to $530 million, or $1.24 a share, because interest expense fell to $177 million from $247 million and diluted shares dropped to 426 million from 437 million after the Fiber Business sale closed on May 1, 2026 for $8.4 billion of net cash proceeds.

About $515 million of fourth-quarter AFFO has to close the year

Nine-month AFFO of $1.47 billion, up 3.6% from $1.41 billion, leaves $515 million to reach the midpoint. That is slightly less than the $530 million reported in the third quarter. The full-year net income midpoint of $895 million is more than double the $444 million reported for 2025, but the gap is a discontinued-operations effect in both years. Net income for 2025 absorbed a $659 million loss from discontinued operations, including a $1.31 billion loss on the Fiber Business disposal recorded in the first nine months of that year; for 2026 the outlook assumes only $80 million to $360 million of such losses, through April 30, 2026. The swing in that one line covers most of the $451 million increase in the midpoint. Crown Castle described 97% fixed-rate debt, a weighted average maturity of about 7 years and roughly $3.9 billion available under its revolving credit facility, and it paid $452 million of dividends in the quarter at $1.0625 a share.

The next dated test is the annual report

The release gives no standalone fourth-quarter guidance and no analyst consensus, so it cannot establish whether the quarter beat expectations or how much of the customer agreement is already reflected in the 2027 base. The documented test is the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2026, which will show whether land buyouts and the cost reductions held through the fourth quarter and whether the extra $20 million of straight-lined revenue reverses into cash rent, since site rental billings exclude straight-lined revenues by definition. Until then, the revenue guide and the billings guide point in different directions: one rises on accounting timing while the other is unchanged.