SBAC US S&P 500Russell 1000 Earnings call · transcribed from the recording
SBA Communications (SBAC) · Q3 2026 results and valuation
Share price: $190.03 · 2026-11-11
Results Q3 2026 vs Q2 2026 · previous quarter · published 2 Nov 2026 and 3 Aug 2026
Net income up 16.4% on the previous quarter, guidance cut. Tone in line with last period.
Only a basic analysis is available for this company at the moment.
1 · Numbers
+16.4%
Net income vs Q2 2026
Guidance cut
Net income 231.3M vs 198.8M
Revenue −0.2%
Against the same quarter last year (Q3 2025) it is −2.3%, so the move on last quarter looks seasonal or timing-related rather than a trend.
2 · How management spoke
Unchanged
Language tone vs last period
Language: restrained — about as upbeat as in Q2 2026.
3 · What stood out
Figure
In 2025, mobile data grew by 20% in the U.S., and expectations are for data demand to quadruple by 2032.
Valuation
Is SBA Communications undervalued?
Reverse DCF. Free cash flow from the last full fiscal year (2025-12-31), grown for 10 years, discounted back, plus a terminal value. “Implied growth” is the rate the current price assumes.
At 2.2% growth a year (3-year revenue growth), the model's fair value is $18.28 a share — the stock trades 939% above it. Today's price assumes 13.4% growth a year.
Current price
$190.03
close of 2026-11-11
Market implies growth of iThe yearly free-cash-flow growth, for the next 10 years, that today’s share price already assumes. If you believe the company grows faster than this, the stock is cheap under this model; slower, and it is expensive.
+13.4% for 10 yrs
Fair value / share
$18.28
Buy below
$13.71
Price vs fair value
Overvalued >200%
Price vs buy-below price
Overvalued >200%
Read between the lines
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Guidance ↓
The sale of SBA Communications' towers in Chile and Ecuador reduced its full year outlook by approximately $10 million of site leasing revenue, $6 million of tower cash flow...
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Guidance
SBA Communications expects Sprint churn in 2027 to be less than $20 million.
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Fading
New tower builds continue to be a good use of capital, and SBA Communications expects the risk-adjusted returns to exceed its cost…
Source quote
“New tower builds continue to be a good use of capital, and we expect the risk-adjusted returns to exceed our cost... We expect this number will increase steadily over time. We continue to see positive organic growth in our international portfolio due in part to local CPI-linked rent escalators.”
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Fading
In terms of the drivers of growth opportunities into the future, particularly around the new spectrum bands, most of what SBA Communications talked about is something…
Source quote
“And in terms of the drivers of growth opportunities into the future, particularly around the new spectrum bands, most of what we talked about is something... So overall, if you added up the application volumes, they're relatively consistent with where they've been throughout the year. So that's something that's going to happen over the next 5-plus years.”
Tone
How upbeat the language was, compared with other companiesiTone counts positive minus negative finance words, adjusted for length. Executives mostly speak positively, so the labels compare each call with every company's latest call: “typical” is the middle third, “very upbeat” the top tenth, “cautious” the bottom tenth.. Dot: Q3 2026. Ring: Q2 2026.
Restrained — about as upbeat as in Q2 2026.
Sentences that drove the tone
“Our objective has been clear from the start, to be a leading tower company in each market where we operate, to align ourselves with the leading wireless operators in those...”
“Well, we had another great quarter with industry-leading AFFO per share, strong operating margins, continued progress on our portfolio review, over $430 million returned to shareholders through dividends and share...”
“A lot of the growth that we're seeing today is new leases, and that's mostly infill and some expanded coverage.”
Full figures
USD · SEC EDGAR XBRL (10-Q, period end 2026-09-30)
| Metric | Q3 2026period end 2026-09-30 | Q2 2026period end 2026-06-30 | Change | Q3 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 713.9M | 715.3M | −0.2% | 732.3M | −2.5% |
| Gross profit | 542.4M | 539.3M | +0.6% | 542.5M | ±0% |
| Operating income | 367.7M | 351.9M | +4.5% | 374.2M | −1.7% |
| Net income | 231.3M | 198.8M | +16.4% | 236.8M | −2.3% |
| EPS | 2.19 | 1.87 | +17.1% | 2.20 | −0.5% |
| P/E today 20.5 | 17.3 | 19.0 | −1.7 | 24.3 | −7.0 |
Topics
Most discussed now
- The reconciliation of and other information regarding these items can be found in SBA Communications' supplemental financial data package.
- In the third quarter, SBA Communications continues to operate efficiently, controlling the rent costs and achieving company-wide tower cash…
- It's just a typical process of applying for the incremental power needs at a site and going through the steps...
- In many cases, what SBA Communications has had available at the sites where it has done these smaller edge computing facilities has been...
- Most of it is not related to SBA Communications' core big customers.
Faded since Q2 2026
- Dropped On the wholesale MLAs versus a la carte approach, the reality is SBA Communications is sort of indifferent to the structure in...
- Fading The primary drivers of these increases include higher straight-line revenues and improved net cash interest expenses.
- Fading While international churn remains elevated, SBA Communications continues to focus on locking in stable, predictable operating cash flow…
- Fading In other places, SBA Communications has exited certain markets.
Latest announcements
Official filings, newest first.
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
- New financial obligation · SEC 8-K
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K
- Material agreement; Agreement terminated; New financial obligation · SEC 8-K
- Other events · SEC 8-K
- Material agreement · SEC 8-K
- Shareholder vote results · SEC 8-K · routine
- Results of operations · SEC 8-K