Top Picks 2021: Crown Castle International (CCI)

Not a day passes that I don’t scour the market for opportunities in stocks and equity options in search of the best current buys; the stocks I find have safe and generous yields, usually averaging 4.5%, asserts John Dobosz, editor of Forbes Dividend Investor.

Houston, Tex.-based Crown Castle International (CCI) — currently yielding 3.3% — is a real estate investment trust that specializes in communications infrastructure.

The company provides services to wireless carriers through 40,000 cell towers, 70,000 small cell nodes, and 80,000 miles of fiber. The towers segment accounts for 70% of the company's $5.8 billion in annual revenue.

Funds from operations (FFO), the most relevant performance metric for REITs, are expected to rise 8.8% to $6.08 per share this year, and to grow 10.5% in 2021. FFO grew 5.2% last year.

In the most recent quarterly report on October 21, funds from operations exceeded forecasts while revenue was lighter than expected. Management upped profit guidance for the year ahead, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.33 per share, a 10.8% hike from $1.20 per share last quarter.

At least one insider is bullish: J. Landis "Lanny" Martin, who sits on Crown Castle's board of directors, gobbled up almost $1.3 million worth of CCI at $161.19 per share. Raymond James recently raised its price target on CCI to $172 per share. 

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