Crown Castle Stock Jumps as Firm Sells Fiber Optics Unit for $8.5B | Global News Avenue

Crown Castle (CCI) Stocks soared nearly 10% on Friday, the day after towers and other communications infrastructure providers, whose fiber units sold their fiber core core infrastructure fund and privately held Zayo Group Holdings to $8.5 billion.

The deal allowed EQT to acquire Crown Castle’s small cell operation, while Zayo adopted the fiber solutions business. The deal is expected to end in the first half of 2026.

Crown Castle explains that it will use the money to “repay existing debt and fund expectations” Shared repurchaseThe company is positioned to maintain an investment-grade credit rating. “It said the new stock buyback program is worth about $3 billion.

The move comes after the company conducted a strategic and operational review of the division in December 2023, “purposes to increase shareholder value.”

In addition to the sales announcement, Crown Castle reported a loss of $10.97 per share, while analysts surveyed by Alpha are looking for earnings. $1.65 billion in revenue meets the forecast. Additionally, it will cut its annual dividend from $6.26 per share to $4.25 per share in the second quarter and will reset after the fiber sales ends.

Even with today’s earnings, Crown Castle’s stock has been down nearly 4% over the past year.

Correction – This article has been updated to reflect EQT Active Core Infrastructure Fund with EQT Corp.