3 Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase for the Budding 5G Rollout

By: ,

Dividend Yield

Three dividend-paying cell tower stocks to purchase for the budding rollout of 5G growth opportunities give investors ways to tap into new high-speed communications technology that should show strong growth in the coming years.

Advertisement.

The three dividend-paying cell tower stocks to purchase feature companies involved in the cell tower business, along with a fourth opportunity for those willing to consider a dividend-paying exchange-traded fund focused on 5G  that includes exposure to cell tower stocks in portfolio of equity holdings. These three dividend-paying cell tower stocks to purchase give investors a chance to buy shares in a growth area that has just begun to show its huge potential.

Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Shares ETFs and a panelist on the “Shark Tank” television program, said during a recent podcast that 5G will be a “really big game changer,” and any business that seeks to reach out to its customers and form a direct relationship will benefit by using the technology.

Advertisement.

Paul Dykewicz interviews Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Shares ETFs and “Shark Tank” panelist

Big Trends Support Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase

A recent research report by BoA Global Research identified three primary potential benefits to wireless carriers that 5G offers.

Advertisement.
  1. Enhanced Broadband Speeds — 5G users will enjoy speeds in the gigabyte per second (gbps) range, compared to just the megabyte per second (mbps) range today. This dramatically improved speed opens the way for fixed wireless broadband to be provided in a host of emerging applications.
  2. Low Latency — Technology and applications need low latency to upgrade the user experience. When consumers reach the next evolution of the Internet of Things, including self-driving cars and virtual reality applications, low latency will gain further importance.
  3. Supports Internet of Things (IoT) – An increased number of applications and devices will rely on connectivity and 5G will grow the number of sensors from the millions to the billions as the Internet of Things mushrooms.

Pension Fund Chairman Favors Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase

American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT), a Boston-based real estate investment trust that owns and operates wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure in several countries, is one of the three cell tower real estate investment trusts (REITs) recommended by Bob Carlson, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Virginia’s Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System with more than $4 billion in assets. Carlson, who also leads the Retirement Watch investment newsletter, described American Tower as one of the largest REITs in the world and a developer of multitenant communications real estate through a portfolio of approximately 214,000 communications sites.

To tap into growth opportunities in Latin America, American Tower announced on June 3 that it closed on a tranche of its Telxius Towers acquisition that consists of more than 7,000 communications sites in Brazil, Peru, Chile and Argentina. The transaction totaled roughly $1.1 billion and involved a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under the company’s revolving credit facilities and loans.

American Tower’s Chief Executive Officer Tom Bartlett said in a statement, “With Telefónica as our anchor tenant partner and attractive opportunities for colocation as 4G and 5G deployments accelerate, we expect to drive strong, sustainable long-term growth and attractive returns in the region, while helping to enhance mobile broadband connectivity for hundreds of millions of people.”

The company’s management offered guidance that American Tower assets should generate approximately $70 million in property revenue and $40 million in gross margin for the balance of 2021 and be immediately accretive to consolidated adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share.

Advertisement.

Source: Stock Rover. Click here to sign up for a free, two-week trial for Stock Rover charts and analytics.

American Tower’s share price has soared 24.36% in the past three months, 21.05% so far this year and 4.83% in the past year. The company also offers a current dividend yield of 1.9%.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

SBA Communications Secures Spot Among Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase

Another of the three dividend-paying cell tower stocks to purchase is SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC), a Boca Raton, Florida-based real estate investment trust that owns and operates wireless infrastructure in the United States, Canada, Central America, South America and South Africa. The company received an upgraded rating from Morgan Stanley on June 2 to overweight from equal-weight, along with an increase of 11% in its price target rising to $337 from $321.

SBA Communications reported first-quarter results that topped estimates for revenues and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). On April 1, SBA Communications reached an agreement with New York-based 5G provider Verizon Wireless to provide for committed, extended terms under existing lease agreements, as well as equipment-specific pricing and terms for upgrades to Verizon’s existing leased sites.

Advertisement.

The stock price of SBA Communications has soared 20.65% in the past three months, 13.74% since the start of 2021 and 7.50% in the last 12 months. The company also provides a current dividend of 0.7%.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Crown Castle Earns Berth in Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI), of Houston, owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 80,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across major U.S. markets. Crown Castle’s share price has been surging.

The company’s stock price has zoomed 21.85% in the last three months, 24.49% so far this year and 19.77% in the past 12 months. Crown Castle’s current dividend yield is 2.7%.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Advertisement.

The rollout of 5G services will facilate the adoption of new technologies and mobile experiences, as well as enhance the way people interact with each other. Once the right infrastructure and technology is in place, 5G will connect devices at speeds up to 100 times faster with prior communication technologies.

Pension fund and Retirement Watch leader Bob Carlson answers questions from Paul Dykewicz prior to COVID-19-related social distancing.

Money Manager Kramer Offers a Bonus Equity Investment Other than the Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase

“We got into Crown Castle International Corp. a few years ago in my Triple-Digit Trader portfolio because the stock was hot at the time; but in general, investing in cell phone towers is all about the dividends,” said Hilary Kramer, who heads the GameChangers and Value Authority advisory services. “You want to buy at a level that locks in reasonable cash flow and then hang on as long as the underlying business can support competitive yields.”

Kramer recalled recommending the sale of CCI when the stock “ran out of momentum” and better opportunities arose. Today, it doesn’t even pay 3% a year in dividends, which Kramer said is generally her lower limit for considering any REIT or other income-generating investment.

“Admittedly, the coming 5G boom means more demand for tower capacity, ensuring that CCI and its counterparts will collect more rent and will be able to expand their shareholder payouts over time,” Kramer said. “CCI is already stretching its funds from operations — the metric I look at with REITs because it determines the pool of cash available for dividends — to raise its distribution 8% a year. American Tower Corp. (NYSE:AMT) and SBA Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:SBAC) carry lower yields today but are growing fast enough to narrow the gap year by year. In fact, if you’re willing to hang around long enough, AMT should actually pay a higher yield than CCI by mid-decade.”

Uniti Group Earns Recognition Along with the Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase

Advertisement.

However, none of these stocks will catch Little Rock, Arkansas-based Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) and its 5.8% dividend yield payout any time soon, Kramer said. UNIT is smaller than the three dividend-paying cell tower stocks to purchase and has spent the last several years “under a cloud” after its management made the tough choice to sell its Latin American portfolio and cut its quarterly dividend 75% to $0.15 per share.

Now, Uniti Group’s management has plenty of cash to build 5G towers closer to home, Kramer said. For investors who want direct exposure to the boom and reasonable income, Uniti Group is “the place” to invest, Kramer continued.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

Uniti Group is a REIT that is focused on acquiring and building mission-critical communications infrastructure such as fiber, wireless towers and ground leases. The business works with its customers in a variety of situations to monetize existing assets through a sale-leaseback transaction, finance greenfield infrastructure development and provide merger and acquisition support for complementary companies.

The REIT structure of Uniti Group seeks to provide customers with a flexible source of permanent capital for strategic initiatives to let them strengthen and expand the critical communications infrastructure that unifies businesses, consumers and communities nationwide. The company’s share price has fallen 7.98% in the past three months and 5.63% in the year-to-date (YTD) period, but soared 28.43% in the last 12 months.

Advertisement.

Paul Dykewicz conducts a pre-COVID-19 interview with Hilary Kramer, whose premium advisory services include IPO Edge, 2-Day Trader, Turbo Trader and Inner Circle.

Jablonski Touts 5G Fund as Alternative Choice in Addition to Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) that contains cell tower stocks is Defiance 5G Next Gen Connectivity ETF (FIVG), said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer of New York-based Defiance ETFs. 5G is the “next generation” of mobile and communications services, Jablonski added.

“5G will allow a digitalized economy, the continued rollout of electric vehicles, support machine learning and artificial intelligence,” Jablonski said in podcast this month.

Other uses of 5G include real-time medical data for doctors and hospitals. 5G will touch every sector imaginable, Jablonski said.

“It has barely started,” Jablonski said. “There are about 60 countries and 1,300 cities that have 5G — about one-third of where we need to be.”

The compound annual growth rate of 5G is projected to be about 70% between 2020 and 2025, Jablonski said. It is a “massive” investment opportunity, Jablonski continued.

Advertisement.

The Defiance 5G ETF gives exposure to a broad range of companies engaged in the business, Jablonski said. Such businesses include cell tower companies, semiconductor suppliers, telecommunications providers and the REITs that house some of the infrastructure buildout, she added.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

FIVG, with $1 billion in assets under management, invests in the 5G phenomenon with next-generation innovative and disruptive capabilities. The flagship ETF is the most cost-effective way to invest in 5G, Jablonski said.

Three Dividend-paying Cell Tower Stocks to Purchase Sidestep Worst of COVID-19 Crisis

Progress in the COVID-19 vaccination process lifts hope that new cases and deaths will keep falling in the future. A total of 175.9 million people in the United States have been given at least one COVID-19 vaccination.

As of June 17, 53.6% of the U.S. population had been vaccinated and 45.0% fully vacinated. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a third COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which requires just one dose rather than two, as with the first two vaccine providers: Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA).

COVID-19 cases throughout the world have hit 177,589,640 and caused 3,845,080 deaths, as of June 18, according to Johns Hopkins University. Also as of June 18, U.S. COVID-19 cases totaled 33,517,508 and have led to 601,243 deaths. America has the dreaded distinction as the country with the most COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Advertisement.

The three dividend-paying cell tower stocks to purchase offer investors a chance to profit from the advent of 5G, the next-generation communication technology. Increased COVID-19 vaccine availability, an improving economy and the recent $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package should help to boost the three dividend-paying cell tower stocks to purchase.

Related Posts:

Paul Dykewicz

Connect with Paul Dykewicz

Paul Dykewicz

Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is a respected, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street JournalInvestor’s Business DailyUSA Today, the Journal of Commerce, Crain Communications, Seeking Alpha, Guru Focus and other publications and websites. Paul can be followed on Twitter @PaulDykewicz, and is the editor and a columnist at StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com. He also serves as editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free weekly e-letters and other investment reports.

Paul is the author of an inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz. In addition, Paul serves as a commentator about investing, economics, business news, politics and motivational guidance. 

Paul earned a master’s degree in business administration with a focus on finance at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, where he was elected to two terms as president of its Finance Club. He earlier received a master’s degree from Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, where he was inducted into the Kappa Tau Alpha honor society. Paul received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, focusing on political science, business and economics.

X
Search Dividend Investor