Some of the information we will discuss on this call is forward-looking, including, but not limited to, any guidance for 2026 and beyond. With that, I will now turn it over to Marc to comment on the second quarter results and 2026 outlook. Given the solid performance in the second quarter, we're modestly increasing our full-year outlook for site leasing revenue, FFO, and FFO per share as compared to our prior 2026 guidance. In the second quarter, FFO per share was $3.05, and we paid a cash dividend of $1.25 per share.
We continue to operate efficiently, controlling direct costs, and achieving company-wide Tower Cash Flow margins of just under 80%. With respect to churn, our prior outlook for both Sprint and EchoStar related churn for the year remains unchanged. Internationally, we continue to see healthy demand for our infrastructure, and we added approximately $4 million of new lease and amendment billings in the second quarter. The total amount raised was $3.5 billion, and net proceeds we used to pay in full both our Term Loan B and amounts outstanding on our revolving credit facility.
The transaction generated very strong demand for each of the three tranches we issued. Consistent with our prior outlook, we continue to assume that at $1.2 billion November ABS maturity will be refinanced in November of this year at 5.25%. Our current leverage of 6.4x net debt to Adjusted EBITDA remains near historical lows and within our target range of 6x-7x. During the second quarter, we declared and paid a cash dividend of $132.7 million or $1.25 per share.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Site leasing revenue / FFO / FFO per share | FY2026 | Modestly increased (mainly higher straight-line revenue and improved net cash interest; some FX-driven top-end changes from the Brazilian real) |
| New tower builds | FY2026 | ~600 sites (mostly Central America and Tanzania), building more each successive quarter |
| November ABS refinancing | FY2026 | $1.2 billion November ABS maturity assumed refinanced at 5.25% |
| Dividend | Q3 2026 | $1.25 per share (up ~13% YoY; ~41% of midpoint FFO), payable September 17, 2026 |
| Share buybacks | H2 2026 | Expected to resume (~$1.1 billion remaining), viewed as a low-risk, high-return use of capital at current valuation |
| Leverage | ongoing | 6.4x currently; expected to trend toward the middle of the range over time |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (GAAP) | +2.3% to $715M | Domestic and international leasing growth (US $9M new lease/amendment billings, international $4M) partly offset by elevated international churn. |
| FFO per share | $3.05 | Solid leasing results, efficient cost control and improved net cash interest expense. |
| GAAP diluted EPS | $1.87 | Reported net income per share; SBA is managed on FFO/AFFO. |
| Operating margin (GAAP) | 53.0% | High-margin tower model; company-wide Tower Cash Flow margin just under 80%. |
| US new lease & amendment billings | ~$9M added | Bulk from new co-locations as carriers densify and expand, plus 5G/C-band, Massive MIMO and Fixed Wireless Access growth. |
| International new lease & amendment billings | ~$4M added | Healthy demand plus CPI-linked rent escalators, partly offset by elevated churn. |
| New tower builds | 99 (up from 75) | Expanding build capabilities post-Millicom integration, mostly international. |
| Net debt / Adjusted EBITDA | 6.4x | Near historical lows within the 6-7x target after the IG bond refinancing. |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investment-grade transition | First IG bonds | The $3.5 billion inaugural unsecured IG offering (blended 5.11%), a new $2.5 billion unsecured revolver, an S&P upgrade to BBB and secured debt below 50% establish a solid IG investor base; SBA plans to keep issuing IG notes to refinance upcoming ABS and high-yield maturities. | — |
| Spectrum-driven organic growth runway | 5G/C-band deployment | The FCC's April Upper C-band auction (160 MHz) will create a harmonized 440 MHz mid-band super-band with strict build-out requirements (45% coverage in two years, 80% in six, automatic license termination), and further bands (2.7 GHz by ~2028, 4.4 GHz, 1.6 GHz, 7 GHz under study) support a decade of network-investment tailwinds and incremental equipment on SBA sites. | — |
| Edge compute opportunity | Emerging | Management is more confident than ever in a distributed edge-compute architecture requiring many power/fiber-fed locations; conversations with multiple parties are advancing (expected to develop over the next 12 months), skewing toward sub-megawatt facilities, with roughly half of the U.S. portfolio well-suited. | — |
| Satellite direct-to-device | Complement not substitute | SBA has talked to many satellite providers; any D2D provider competing with terrestrial MNOs will need a terrestrial component, creating opportunity, while only ~2-3% of SBA's portfolio might be fringe sites at risk — early-stage, with specifics expected over the next year or two. | — |
| Capital allocation shift to buybacks | Builds and M&A | With the stock viewed as trading below intrinsic value and U.S. M&A assets valued well above SBA's own multiple (dilutive), buybacks are the current best use of capital (resuming H2, ~$1.1 billion remaining), alongside continued tower builds and selective, value-adding M&A. | — |
| International churn management | Elevated | SBA is negotiating long-term arrangements with its largest international customers (some rent relief in exchange for stable, predictable cash flow and new-growth partnership), believes it is nearing the end of heightened churn with only a couple of customers left, but won't commit on 2027 timing. | — |
| EchoStar/Dish litigation | Ongoing | SBA continues to litigate in federal court, disputing EchoStar's ~85% claim haircut; the FCC shut down games around the escrow fund, and SBA expects to succeed with sufficient funds available to meet Dish's obligations. | — |