In the latest trading session, Crown Castle (CCI) closed at $198.58, marking a -1.76% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s 1.78% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.61%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.95%.

– Zacks

Prior to today’s trading, shares of the operator of wireless communications towers had gained 11.09% over the past month. This has outpaced the Finance sector’s loss of 3.34% and the S&P 500’s loss of 2.63% in that time.

Crown Castle will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.72, down 26.18% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.62 billion, up 8.73% from the year-ago period.

CCI’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.89 per share and revenue of $6.31 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +1.62% and +7.99%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Crown Castle. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Crown Castle currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, Crown Castle is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 29.34. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 17.9.

It is also worth noting that CCI currently has a PEG ratio of 2.93. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock’s expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust – Other industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.9 as of yesterday’s close.

The REIT and Equity Trust – Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 113, putting it in the top 45% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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