SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Brandon Nispel: Hey. Thanks for taking the questions. Brendan, a question for you, the guidance for leasing, I am afraid I am going to ask this just a different way than everybody else has it. But the guidance for leasing for $72 million, you exited at about $21 million this quarter on my numbers. So, it seems to imply an exit rate in €˜23 of $15 million to $16 million. I guess is that right? And then as we think about building our forecast for €˜24 if you are exiting around that level, historically, you guys have grown new leasing by the $40 million to $50 million cap. What would be the swing factors in terms of keeping that $15 million to $16 million exit rate holding steady in €˜24 versus maybe trending lower? Thanks.

Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. That’s in the right ballpark, Brandon, in terms of where we would think that we will exit that sort of what’s assumed in our $72 million number. That is in that range. What would swing it in terms of what happens after that is really dependent on what happens in terms of new bookings signed up during the second half of this year, the pace of that. If it’s ahead of our pace, it’s not going to have much impact on our assumed pace, it’s not going to have much impact on 2023, but obviously, it will drive what happens in 2024. So, it’s a little early to be able to talk about that, obviously, but the biggest impact is going to be based on what’s happening in terms of new business we are signing up the second half of this year.

Brandon Nispel: I guess just a follow-up on that. Two of your larger customers have sort of guided us to lower capital spending in €˜23 and €˜24. So, I am curious what would drive the leasing number to ever be better than $72 million. Do we need to see another spectrum auction? Is there going to be another sort of massive ground of densification of the existing spectrum bands? Is it a new customer? It’s going to be a new 5G use case, just trying to get a sense of sort of your thoughts around 5G more holistically in that regard.

Brendan Cavanagh: Yes. I think that it’s really a function of how many of our customers are hitting on all cylinders at the same time. It’s usually just concentration more than it is anything else. Our biggest lease-up periods throughout our history have come when all of our customers have been busy at the same time. Usually, that’s the biggest driver. If you have them do it over time, it just basically spreads it out more, but it doesn’t necessarily change the total. So, that’s probably the biggest answer. I mean obviously, there are other things that are out there that are more specific. I mean DISH has certain obligations in 2025. That of course, could be a driver to activity levels with them. T-Mobile’s got C-band spectrum that’s clearing at the end of this year as well as 3.45.

They haven’t really deployed any of that. So, there is a variety of specific things that you could point to by carrier that could be drivers of accelerated activity at a given point in time, but that’s really to be seen in terms of the timing. Ultimately, though we expect all of those things to drive incremental business to our site, it’s just a question of when that happens.

Jeff Stoops: Yes. And I would just add, and this comment goes throughout all the comments. We have been careful with our guidance and with our commentary not to get ahead of our customers. I mean ultimately, the answer to your question is how much money they decide that they are going to €“ we are not going to change the amount of money they are going to spend. They are going to spend what they decided they need to spend under the current competitive capital and other dynamics.

Brandon Nispel: Thank you.

Operator: And our last question comes from the line of David Guarino with Green Street. Please go ahead.

David Guarino: Hey. Thanks. Two questions on your guidance. I will ask on both upfront. The first one on the escalation guidance for your international markets, I was wondering if you could just comment on why given the higher CPI last year, why are we €“ we are seeing flat growth in that number year-over-year? And then on your discretionary CapEx guidance, I am assuming there is no acquisitions included in there, but it looks like it’s going to be up pretty significantly versus last year. Is that some data center investments, or is there any other type of CapEx that’s driving that higher in €˜23? Thanks.