What Management Said
Read the full Q4 2025 transcript ↗Good evening, thank you for joining us for SBA's fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Some of the information we will discuss on this call is forward-looking, including, but not limited to, any guidance for 2026 and beyond. With that, I will now turn over the call to Marc to comment on the fourth quarter results and our 2026 outlook. In the fourth quarter, the FFO per share was $3.19, with a cash dividend of $1.11 per share, an increase of 13% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.
Our service business also continues to perform well, increasing revenue by 13% in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2025. Internationally, we continue to see healthy demand, adding approximately $6 million of new leases and abandoned buildings in the fourth quarter. International churn continues to be elevated, we lost approximately $8 million of revenue in the quarter from carrier consolidation, bankruptcy, restructuring, and wireless operators' network optimizations. The team has been working around the clock to integrate the newly acquired sites for Millicom in Central America.
In the quarter, we deployed significant capital to buy back our shares, spending $213 million to retire 1.1 million shares at an average price of $191.07. Domestically, our 2026 outlook reflects a similar level of new revenue growth from carriers' leasing activity to what we experienced in 2025. The outlook also assumes a range of $55 million-$56 million related to Sprint churn, which is slightly higher than we estimated last quarter. In addition, our churn outlook removes all future recurring revenue from EchoStar.
What went well
- The fourth quarter was a solid finish to the year, with results in line with estimates even after higher-than-forecasted bad debt expense related to EchoStar.
- Fourth quarter FFO per share was $3.19, with a cash dividend of $1.11 per share, an increase of 13% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.
- SBA added approximately $10 million of domestic new leases and amendments, with the bulk of activity continuing to come from new collocations.
- The services business continued to perform well, increasing revenue by 13% in the fourth quarter, mostly due to construction-related projects focused on network expansion.
- Internationally, SBA saw healthy demand and added approximately $6 million of new leases and amendments in the fourth quarter.
- The company deployed significant capital to buy back shares, spending $213 million to retire 1.1 million shares at an average price of $191.07, and $500 million to repurchase 2.5 million shares for the full year 2025.
- SBA declared a first quarter 2026 dividend of $1.25 per share, an increase of approximately 13% over the first quarter of 2025.
- SBA achieved investment-grade ratings from two major rating agencies and has operated comfortably between six and seven turns of leverage for the last three years while delivering the fastest-growing dividend in its industry.
- The Verizon MLA signed late in 2025 has grown SBA's backlogs quite a bit, giving confidence in increased contributions from Verizon starting in 2026.
What went wrong
- The quarter carried higher-than-forecasted bad debt expense related to EchoStar, and SBA removed all future recurring revenue from EchoStar from its outlook while continuing to pursue legal rights to recover those revenues.
- SBA filed a lawsuit against DISH/EchoStar and, due to their default and lack of payment, terminated and accelerated the rents due under the contract.
- Sprint-related churn was approximately $17 million in the quarter, and the 2026 Sprint churn outlook of $55-56 million is slightly higher than previously estimated due to timing.
- International churn remained elevated, with approximately $8 million of revenue lost in the quarter from carrier consolidation, bankruptcy, restructuring, and network optimizations.
- The low end of the 2026 domestic new leasing range implies a slight slowdown, roughly $2 million less than 2025, which management attributed largely to the removal of DISH lease-up contribution.
Guidance Changes
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic new leases and amendments (2026) | FY2026 | ~$35 million incremental, similar level of new revenue growth to 2025 |
| Sprint churn (2026) | FY2026 | $55-56 million |
| Sprint churn (2027 and beyond) | 2027+ | Less than $20 million |
| International new leases and amendments (2026) | FY2026 | $19-21 million, up slightly from 2025 |
| International churn (2026) | FY2026 | $36-40 million, including $14 million Oi wireline that does not continue into 2027 |
| Services revenue (2026) | FY2026 | $190-210 million |
| November ABS maturity refinancing rate | November 2026 | 5.25% (assumed) |
| EchoStar/DISH recurring revenue (2026) | FY2026 | Removed entirely from outlook |
Performance Breakdown
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| FFO per share | $3.19 in Q4 | Solid finish to the year, results in line with estimates |
| Cash dividend per share | +13% (to $1.11 for Q4) | Fastest-growing dividend in the industry, supported by strong predictable cash flow |
| Domestic new leases and amendments | ~$10 million added in Q4 | Bulk of activity from new collocations as carriers intensify and expand footprints |
| Services revenue | +13% in Q4 | Construction-related projects focused on network expansion |
| International new leases and amendments | ~$6 million added in Q4 | Healthy international demand |
| International revenue lost to churn | ~$8 million in Q4 | Carrier consolidation, bankruptcy, restructuring, and network optimizations |
Earnings Call Themes & Trends
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. leasing / carrier mix | Heavy T-Mobile activity in 2025 | 2026 expects more contribution from Verizon due to new MLA; T-Mobile activity has slowed; AT&T MLA front-end loaded and slower now; management views 2026 as the likely bottom for organic leasing | — |
| DISH / EchoStar | Correspondence ongoing, expected to honor agreements | Lawsuit filed after default; rents terminated and accelerated; all EchoStar revenue removed from 2026 outlook | — |
| Investment grade transition | Path toward IG established | Achieved IG ratings from two agencies; inaugural IG bond expected at some point in 2026 depending on market conditions | — |
| Brazil / international | Elevated churn from Oi and consolidation | Oi wireline churn pulled forward and ends after 2026; long-term opportunity from network density gap, spectrum auctions (450/700 MHz est. 2027), and 5G buildout | — |
| Long-term organic growth | Consolidation churn pressuring net growth | Domestic net organic growth targeted at ~4-5% (3% escalators, ~1% long-term churn, 2-3% lease-up), fully reachable by 2028-2029 | — |
| 6G / edge compute | Long-discussed but limited | AI moving from core to RAN; expect more compute at tower sites; SBA's distributed U.S. portfolio seen as a real opportunity | — |
Q&A Summary
The low end of the domestic range suggests a slowdown; how much visibility does SBA have and what is the impact of the Verizon MLA against Verizon's lower CapEx guidance?
Cavanagh said SBA has pretty good visibility and gives a range because the first half is not set in stone; the midpoint is about $2 million less than 2025, but excluding $2 million of prior-year DISH lease-up it is basically flat. He expects more contribution from Verizon due to the MLA, which is built around minimum commitments and growing backlogs, largely insulating it from Verizon's CapEx cuts.
What is the status of the DISH/EchoStar dispute -- lawsuit filed, contract terminated, and timeline?
Cavanagh confirmed SBA recently filed a lawsuit and, because of DISH's default and lack of payment, terminated and accelerated the rents due under the contract. He said SBA will enforce its rights the best it can, and for outlook purposes it removed DISH entirely, noting SBA's relative exposure is smaller than peers'.
How much T-Mobile/UScellular churn is expected and when?
Cavanagh said about $1-2 million of the 2026 churn estimate is specifically USM-related; total UScellular lease revenue is about $20 million, and SBA assumes it churns roughly evenly over about five years, though not all of it will necessarily go away.
Where can domestic net organic growth get to long term once consolidation churn washes out?
Cavanagh said probably in the 4-5% range -- roughly 3% from escalators, long-term domestic churn around 1%, and organic lease-up of 2-3% -- especially as the market returns to a more network-driven competitive environment.
How did SBA arrive at its Brazilian real assumption, and why not simply cut off the defaulting DISH network?
Marc Montagner said SBA assumes roughly BRL 5.20, expecting the real to be strong given ~15% short-term rates and Brazil's net-exporter status, versus the Central Bank's BRL 5.50 forecast, while acknowledging the estimate will change. Cavanagh said SBA follows the law and has been fully evaluating all rights and opportunities to enforce its position but could not say more.
How did SBA underwrite the Guatemala land purchase, and will it invest more heavily in data centers?
Cavanagh said the Guatemala land under about 3,900 Millicom sites was bought at a mid-single-digit multiple, immediately accretive and de-risking. On data centers, he said SBA's owned data centers were educational but it does not intend to add more; the focus is incremental edge compute at tower sites, where SBA expects to be a player without needing large standalone data centers.
More on Sba Communications Corp
Reported 2026-02-26 · figures from the Sba Communications Corp Q4 2025 earnings call.
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