Crown Castle ups AFFO outlook, reduces staffing levels

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) said it sees its 2024 AFFO per share coming in higher than initially expected, as the telecom infrastructure REIT looks to reduce more than 10% of its staffing levels in its fiber segment.

The firm now expects 2024 AFFO per share of $6.91-$7.02, up from its previous range of $6.85-$6.97. The company also sees adjusted core profit of $4.14B-$4.19B.

CCI also said it will reduce discretionary capital expenditures going forward, and believes it can improve capital efficiency while achieving annual organic revenue growth of 2% in 2024.

Crown Castle (CCI) expects to reduce gross capital expenditures in its fiber segment by $275 million to $325 million in 2024.

The layoffs and office closures and are expected to generate ~$100 million in annualized run-rate cost savings, ~$60 million of which is expected to benefit full year 2024 results.

Crown Castle (CCI) has also identified opportunities for significant future enterprise fiber and small cell demand from locations that are on or close to the company's existing high quality fiber footprint, and believes there is an opportunity in small cells to increase the number of collocation nodes and increase returns on new anchor nodes by focusing on locations nearer to its existing network.

Shares in the company were up 0.4% in premarket trade.