On a rough Friday, October 23, 2026, one corner of the market rallied. Rising oil and lingering worries about AI spending pushed the Dow down nearly 500 points by midday, but cell tower stocks moved sharply higher.
The catalyst came late on Thursday, October 22. Bloomberg reported that SpaceX aims to secure at least 80,000 cell sites across the U.S. and is in talks with at least one major tower company to get there. Bloomberg named Crown Castle as one of those companies. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the agreements would solidify SpaceX's path toward building a fourth nationwide wireless carrier, and that the deals could be worth billions of dollars.
The report builds on SpaceX's October 8 announcement that it plans to buy up to 14 megahertz of 800 MHz spectrum from Grain Management, subject to regulatory approval. On SpaceX's earnings call this week, Elon Musk said satellite launches and spectrum purchases "will pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major mobile carrier in the US."
That was bad news for Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, which fell between 3% and 5% on competition worries. For the companies that lease space on towers, a new national tenant could mean a new source of rent.
Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI)
Crown Castle is the name Bloomberg tied directly to the talks. On the company's October 21 earnings call, CEO Chris Hillabrant was asked whether Crown Castle was discussing leases with SpaceX or other satellite-based providers. His answer: "You can assume that we're talking to all parties." He also called SpaceX's low-band spectrum purchase a "huge milestone."
The quarter itself showed a business in transition. Third-quarter site rental revenue fell 5% from a year earlier to $966.00 million, hurt by Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations. Net income fell 12% to $283.00 million, or $0.67 per diluted share. Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), a key REIT cash-flow measure, rose 8% to $530.00 million, or $1.24 per share. Management raised its full-year 2026 outlook midpoints for site rental revenue to $3.88 billion, adjusted EBITDA to $2.72 billion and AFFO to $1.98 billion. Crown Castle completed the sale of its fiber business on May 1, 2026, for $8.40 billion in net cash proceeds, which leaves it a pure-play U.S. tower operator.
Shares were up 9.55% at $86.36 as of 2:39 p.m. ET, against a prior close of $78.83. That puts Crown Castle's market value near $37.74 billion. The stock is about 12.95% below its 52-week high of $99.21 and about 32.21% above its low of $65.32. The $1.06 quarterly dividend equals a forward yield of roughly 4.92% at Friday's price.
Analysts updated their views after earnings. TD Cowen raised its target to $98.00 from $92.00, and BMO trimmed its target to $91.00 from $93.00 while keeping an Outperform rating. JPMorgan has rated the stock Underweight since September 14. After Friday's jump, the stock sits just 2.36% below the $88.40 average target. The $98.00 high target implies about 13.48% upside.
American Tower (NYSE: AMT)
American Tower declined to comment on the report, but investors bid it up anyway. It operates roughly 41,764 sites across the U.S. and Canada and is one of the largest tower owners.
The stock had fallen 3.3% on October 22 in the broader selloff. It was up 3.73% at $188.35 as of 2:39 p.m. ET Friday, against a prior close of $181.57. Its market value is about $87.76 billion and its P/E is about 25.94. Shares are about 6.82% below their 52-week high of $202.13 and 17.67% above their low of $160.06. American Tower paid a $1.79 quarterly dividend on October 20, which works out to about a 3.80% forward yield.
In the second quarter, revenue rose 4.6% to $2.75 billion and adjusted EPS was $2.71. For the third quarter, analysts expect EPS of about $2.84 on revenue of about $2.77 billion. Bernstein trimmed its target to $212.00 from $214.00 on October 20 and kept an Outperform rating. The average target of $208.00 implies about 10.43% upside, and TD Cowen's $227.00 high target implies roughly 20.52%.
The Risks
So far there's only a report and no signed deal. Analysts at MoffettNathanson have noted that SpaceX's plan to send mobile signals from home Starlink equipment covers places where subscribers live, but not necessarily where consistent coverage is needed. Tower REITs are also sensitive to interest rates, and the 10-year Treasury yield is still near 5%.
What to Watch
American Tower reports third-quarter results on October 27, 2026, and the call could bring its first comments on SpaceX. The Federal Reserve meets October 27 and 28. Watch also for any FCC action on SpaceX's Grain spectrum purchase.
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