A Bull And Bear On Crown Castle International

Topeka downgraded Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) from Buy to Neutral and lowered its price target from $85 to $80.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analyst Brett Feldman upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and felt it was more attractive than American Tower Corp., according to Bloomberg.

Topeka analyst Adam Ilkowitz felt Crown Castle’s "reduction in growth is more important than a higher payout ratio as we believe shareholders are in tower stocks for capital returns, not dividends."

Ilkowitz expected "that the other U.S. tower operators will face the same headwinds as Crown Castle highlighted for 2015. Due to Crown Castle’s guidance, we have reduced our 2015 estimates across the board."

The analyst note estimated that using the "$4.8bn AT&T transaction and 100 percent equity funding...cost of capital for that deal would be 10 percent, comprised of 4 percent dividend and 6 percent annual AFFO growth."

The Topeka note concluded by revising FY 2014E EPS from $1.43 to $1.87 and FY 2015E EPS from $1.70 to $3.28.

Crown Castle International Corp. recently traded at $79.22, up 1.41 percent.