BOCA RATON, Fla.—SBA Communications Corp., the nation’s fifth-largest tower owner and operator, reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $32.2 million on revenue of $72.4 million. The results are a 10.5-percent increase compared to the year-ago loss of $41.8 million from revenue of $65.5 million.
During the fourth quarter, SBA said it spent $21.9 million to purchase 73 towers and to build 17 towers. Already this year, the company has built 10 towers and purchased 65, bringing the company’s tower collection more than 3,300.
“We had an excellent finish to a very good year,” commented Jeffrey Stoops, president and chief executive of SBA. “We ended 2005 with strong customer activity and backlogs which we believe will result in another year of strong operational performance in 2006. Our customers remain very busy improving their wireless networks, and we expect them to stay busy throughout 2006. We expect growth in leasing revenue and tower cash flow this year to be as strong or stronger than we experienced in 2005.”
Despite the company’s net losses, analysts Ric Prentiss and Mark DeRussy of Raymond James noted that they have an optimistic view of the tower sector fundamentals and feel that SBA’s management team is producing solid results. The analysts cited SBA’s 12-percent growth in same tower revenues and its plans to refinance $400 million of debt at lower interest rates by the end of 2006 as indicators that the company is on the right track.
The company’s stock price remained largely unchanged, trading down 16 cents at $22.19 on the Nasdaq this morning.
