We recently published a list of 10 Best Real Estate Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) stands against other best real estate stocks to buy according to billionaires.
In 2025, CBRE Investment Management sees the potential for global listed real estate to outperform broad equities and offer a differentiated total return as compared to the private markets. As per the firm, the listed real estate remains in the early days of a new upcycle, one where long-term yields remain range-bound, earnings continue to accelerate, listed capital market access remains abundant, and valuations can aid continued returns. In 2025, the listed real estate is expected to be characterized by accelerating organic earnings based on improved supply/demand throughout various sectors and access to capital supporting potential acquisitions and upside to estimates, among others.
Listed Real Estate- What’s Ahead?
CBRE Investment Management believes that a new cycle for listed real estate kicked off in Q4 2023 with the recognition of a pause in the rate hikes. The absence of hikes is expected to be powerful for listed real estate, even though there isn’t a strong fall in target rates themselves. Notably, real estate has performed well during periods of range-bound long-term yields. Over 2001-2007, the US 10-year bonds delivered between ~4% – 5%, and listed real estate managed to generate double-digit average returns. The investment firm also added that strong access to capital of listed real estate, versus more constrained private real estate participants, can be maintained moving forward.
READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.
Improved Earnings Growth Expected in Real Estate Sector
CBRE Investment Management sees earnings accelerating into 2025 across the real estate sectors. Globally, it expects 5% earnings growth, which is around double that of 2024 levels. Broad-based strength remains visible, with private-pay senior housing continuing to capitalize on powerful demographics and data center growth accelerating with generative AI. Also, the cell towers continue to gradually recover from customer churn, and retail and net leases have been performing, thanks to supply/demand and their prevailing capital costs.
The investment firm opines that the total return opportunity for REITs remains compelling. The listed real estate provides a ~4% dividend yield, which remains competitive versus private real estate income. This dividend continues to grow and is based on the conservative payout level. Amidst moderating central bank target rates as well as range-bound long-term yields, the firm believes that listed real estate is expected to prosper.
Our Methodology
We used the Finviz stock screener and Insider Monkey’s exclusive database of billionaire stock holdings to shortlist the companies catering to the broader real estate sector. We also mentioned the hedge fund sentiment around each stock, as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A close-up of an array of cell towers on a distant hilltop.
Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 12
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 54
Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) operates as a real estate investment trust. It owns, operates, and leases towers and other infrastructure for wireless communications. Wolfe Research lifted the company’s stock from ‘Underperform’ to ’Peer Perform.’ As per the analyst, the decision to sell its small cell and fiber business is the key factor in the rating upgrade. Notably, Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) has concluded the strategic review of its Fiber segment with an agreement to sell the small cells and fiber solutions businesses for $8.5 billion. Furthermore, the analyst noted that the current economic climate continues to be in favour of defensive businesses, reflecting that the company’s positioning is advantageous.
In 2025, Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) expects a consistent level of activity with organic growth of 4.5% in towers, excluding the impact of Sprint consolidation churn, and anticipates lease and amendment applications to rise YoY as its customers continue to add capacity to 5G networks in a bid to meet the persistent growth in mobile data demand in the US. The London Company, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) – CCI was a bottom performer this quarter driven by the lower-than-expected rumored valuation for a potential sale of the fiber/small cell businesses and slower interest rate cuts in 2025. CCI continues to report positive tower activity but canceled some low-return small cell projects, which was viewed as a negative this quarter. The new management team has taken action to improve the return profile of the business and margins have already shown improvements. CCI is in a good position for future growth given its tower locations and U.S.-focused portfolio. We like CCI’s stable revenue stream, long-term tailwinds on growth in data consumption, and its ability to return cash to shareholders through its dividend policy.”
Overall, CCI ranks 2nd on our list of best real estate stocks to buy according to billionaires. While we acknowledge the potential of CCI as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than CCI but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.