Crown Castle key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Crown Castle had an operating margin of 48.7% and a current ratio of 0.26. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Dec 2009 | 2010Dec 2010 | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMJun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 89.4% | 90.6% | 91.9% | 90.9% | 67.0% | 69.2% | 71.0% | 59.1% | 59.5% | 97.3% | 97.5% |
| Operating margin | 25.7% | 30.6% | 34.1% | 34.3% | 30.7% | 26.6% | 25.8% | 24.2% | 22.7% | 25.8% | 27.1% | 31.9% | 31.6% | 34.7% | 44.3% | 47.5% | 48.7% | 47.7% |
| Net margin | −6.8% | −16.6% | 8.4% | 7.8% | 3.1% | 11.0% | 41.5% | 9.1% | 10.4% | 9.5% | 13.0% | 17.1% | 17.3% | 24.0% | 31.7% | −87.5% | 10.4% | 20.7% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 23.6% | 20.0% | 14.5% | 13.6% | 22.2% | 23.8% | 24.2% | 23.3% | 76.4% | 14.2% | 11.1% | 24.5% | 24.6% | 22.4% | 60.9% | 62.0% | 67.4% | 57.8% |
| Return on equity | −3.9% | −11.6% | 7.1% | 7.1% | 1.8% | 5.7% | 22.0% | 5.0% | 4.6% | 4.3% | 6.8% | 10.0% | 12.4% | 21.3% | 21.7% | −124.9% | — | — |
| Return on assets | −1.0% | −2.9% | 1.6% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 1.9% | 7.1% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 2.1% | 2.6% | 2.8% | 4.3% | 3.9% | −11.0% | 1.4% | 3.3% |
| Asset turnover | 0.15 | 0.18 | 0.19 | 0.18 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.15 | 0.17 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.18 | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.16 |
| Current ratio | 1.59 | 1.24 | 1.49 | 1.28 | 1.18 | 1.38 | 1.15 | 1.38 | 0.88 | 0.82 | 0.63 | 0.56 | 0.62 | 0.45 | 0.40 | 0.50 | 0.26 | 0.52 |
| Debt to equity | 224.1% | 277.2% | 291.6% | 395.2% | 167.4% | 177.5% | 172.8% | 169.8% | 136.4% | 145.1% | 173.8% | 205.3% | 251.8% | 293.7% | 361.9% | — | — | — |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 1.0x | 1.4x | 9.7x | 12.8x | 13.6x | 14.9x | 50.5x | — | — | 2.2x | 2.3x | 2.7x | 3.0x | — | 2.5x | 2.3x | 2.1x | 2.1x |
| Effective tax rate | — | — | 4.6% | — | 76.1% | −3.4% | −10.9% | −4.5% | −6.6% | −3.0% | −2.4% | 1.9% | 1.8% | 0.9% | 1.7% | 1.5% | 1.4% | 1.5% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 9.1% | 8.8% | 8.5% | 8.7% | 7.5% | 7.3% | 8.5% | 9.5% | 10.0% | 10.5% | 10.7% | 11.6% | 10.7% | 10.7% | 10.6% | 9.8% | 9.0% | 9.1% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 10.3% | 12.1% | 17.1% | 18.1% | 18.7% | 21.4% | 24.8% | 22.3% | −28.6% | 32.4% | 35.7% | 27.8% | 19.4% | 18.8% | 5.1% | 3.9% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | — | — | 172.7% | 175.6% | 706.1% | 215.5% | 58.2% | 255.8% | 730.9% | 149.5% | 85.8% | 143.2% | 142.3% | 93.6% | 191.9% | — | 647.5% | 279.1% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | — | — | — | 0.0% | 0.0% | 159.9% | 73.4% | 347.1% | −339.4% | 350.1% | 256.0% | 210.7% | 216.5% | −155.3% | −181.3% | — | −468.5% | −266.9% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 0.8% | 42.5% | 102.7% | 10.9% | 15.6% | 76.8% | 129.5% | 138.4% | −47.2% | 238.6% | 305.1% | 152.4% | 156.6% | −170.1% | −95.5% | −99.8% | −73.1% | −55.3% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q3Sept 2024 | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 97.6% | −54.2% | 97.4% | 97.5% | 97.2% | 97.3% | 97.4% | 98.1% |
| Operating margin | 47.5% | 50.9% | 49.1% | 47.7% | 49.0% | 48.8% | 46.0% | 46.6% |
| Net margin | 27.1% | −426.1% | −43.7% | 27.5% | 30.1% | 27.5% | 15.0% | 9.3% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 59.0% | 73.7% | 56.6% | 74.7% | 62.6% | 75.7% | 44.8% | 46.8% |
| Current ratio | 0.54 | 0.50 | 0.37 | 0.28 | 0.26 | 0.26 | 0.27 | 0.52 |
| Debt to equity | 454.4% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 8.3% | 8.2% | 8.8% | 9.3% | 9.0% | 8.8% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Moat
Strong moat
How hard Crown Castle's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 15 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 11.4% of total assets over 9 years.
- Pricing power 12 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 72.0%, moving by 16.7 percentage points (standard deviation) across 9 years.
- Durability 20 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 33.9%; its worst year was 24.4%.
- Cash conversion 19 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 9 of 10 years, at a median 26.3% of revenue.
- Discipline 16 / 20
The diluted share count rose 0.9% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 2.1% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
Compare with peers
Head to head: CCI vs SBACAMT vs CCI
More: Telecom Tower REITs stocks compared, Real Estate sector, rankings of US companies