MeritValue

CROWN CASTLE INC.

CCIdata completeness 100%19 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

CROWN CASTLE INC. earns about 7% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $25.99 and $330.54 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$621M1$697M2$421M3$192M3$215M3
Net income$1.1B4$1.68B5$1.5B6−$3.9B6$444M6
Operating cash flow$2.79B7$2.88B8$3.13B9$2.94B9$3.06B9
Capital expenditure$1.23B10$1.31B11$243M12$176M12$182M12
Free cash flow (derived)$1.56B7$1.57B8$2.88B9$2.77B9$2.88B9
Total debt$20.7B13$22.5B14$23.8B15$24.7B16$27.1B17
Cash & equivalents$292M18$156M19$105M19$100M20$99M20
Diluted shares434.0M434.0M434.0M434.0M437.0M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
−$37.41
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$10.16
Free cash flow it threw off
$65.79
Debt you’d be carrying
$620.59

10 shares is a claim on −$37.41 of net worth that earned you $10.16 and generated $65.79 of cash last year, against $620.59 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
7% avg · 5y
FY21 6%FY22 3%FY23 7%FY24 9%FY25 8%

It earned about 7% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — below the cost of funding. The numbers show no moat.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
+1% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback. Total debt has risen 31% over the same window.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $25.99 and $330.54 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$330.54
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$2.88B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$152.66
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$2.88B
Earnings Power Value
$25.99
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$1.1B
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
not applicable
book value / share count missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $152.66
The three cases
Bear0.0%$32.17
Base20.0%$152.66
Bull20.0%$152.66

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 20.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001051470-24-000062 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001051470-25-000089 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001051470-26-000016 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001051470-24-000062 (ProfitLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001051470-25-000089 (ProfitLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001051470-26-000016 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001051470-24-000062 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001051470-25-000089 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001051470-26-000016 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001051470-24-000062 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001051470-25-000089 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001051470-26-000016 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001051470-22-000019 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001051470-23-000041 (LongTermDebt)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001051470-24-000062 (LongTermDebt)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001051470-25-000089 (LongTermDebt)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2025-12-31 · accession 0001051470-26-000016 (LongTermDebt)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001051470-24-000062 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001051470-25-000089 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001051470-26-000016 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)