CCI vs. O: Crown Castle vs. Realty Income Stock Comparison

November 11, 2026

How do Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O) stack up? This page sets them side by side across company profile, performance and risk, profitability, growth, financial strength, dividends, and valuation, with selected fundamentals also measured against each stock's industry-group peers.

Company Profile

Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O) both fall under the Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group, but CCI is classified in Specialized REITs while O is classified in Retail REITs.

Both Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O) are REITs — read their payout ratios and P/E alongside FFO (funds from operations) rather than at face value.

Company profile comparison for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Profile Item	CCI	O
Name	Crown Castle Inc.	Realty Income Corp.
Country/Region	United States	United States
GICS Sector	Real Estate	Real Estate
GICS Industry Group	Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)	Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
GICS Industry	Specialized REITs	Retail REITs
GICS Sub-Industry	Telecom Tower REITs	Retail REITs
Market Capitalization	37.70 billion USD	56.31 billion USD
Currency	USD	USD
Exchange	NYSE	NYSE
Listing Date	August 18, 1998	October 18, 1994
Security Type	REIT	REIT

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

CCI

GSPC

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O), with S&P 500 (GSPC) for reference: Growth of a $10,000 investment over the past five years. Adjusted for dividends and splits.

Trailing Returns

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Trailing total returns for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O). Returns over one year are annualized.

Calendar-Year Returns

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Calendar-year total returns for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O). Each bar is that year's total return, measured year-end to year-end.

Performance Metrics

Price performance metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
Total Return (1Y)	3.98%	10.34%
Total Return (3Y, Annualized)	2.86%	11.84%
Total Return (5Y, Annualized)	-8.91%	2.34%

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

CCI

GSPC

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O), with S&P 500 (GSPC) for reference: Drawdown from the running peak over the past five years. Each line shows the decline from its prior peak; 0% marks a new high.

Return Distribution

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Distribution of monthly total returns for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O). Each bar is the share of months whose return fell in that 5% bucket.

Risk Metrics

Risk profile metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
Volatility (1Y, Annualized)	35.72%	16.95%
Beta (5Y)	0.88	0.63
Max Drawdown (5Y)	-59.72%	-34.47%
Avg. Volume (3M)	4.10M	7.39M

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

CCI and O are plotted by 1-year volatility (risk) and 1-year return. The dashed Capital Allocation Line runs from the risk-free rate through the shared industry median.

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Risk-adjusted metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
Sharpe Ratio (1Y)	-0.01	0.36
Sortino Ratio (1Y)	-0.01	0.52

Profitability

ROE (TTM)

Capital efficiency shows on one side only: Realty Income (O) earns 3.48% on shareholders’ equity, ranked against its industry; Crown Castle (CCI) has no ROE this period.

CCI

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

Max: 22.74%
Q3: 10.54%
Median: 6.38%
Q1: 1.69%
Min: -10.86%
CCI: --

O

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

3.48%

Max: 22.74%
Q3: 10.54%
Median: 6.38%
O: 3.48%
Q1: 1.69%
Min: -10.86%

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O): CCI does not report ROE, so it has no value marker; O is benchmarked against the Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group.

Net Margin (TTM)

Neither Crown Castle (CCI) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) nor Realty Income (O) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) is well served by net margin: heavy depreciation makes net income a poor profitability proxy in their businesses, where FFO-based measures are the standard read.

Operating Margin (TTM)

Neither side reports a meaningful operating margin: for Crown Castle (CCI) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Realty Income (O) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), funding costs are part of the core business, so net margin and ROE are the cleaner profitability reads.

Profitability Metrics

Profitability metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
ROE (TTM)	--	3.48%
ROA (TTM)	4.69%	2.44%
Net Margin (TTM)	--	--
Operating Margin (TTM)	--	--
Gross Margin (TTM)	--	--

Growth

Revenue Growth

Realty Income (O) at 9.07% is around its peer norm for revenue growth, while Crown Castle (CCI) at -4.39% drops into the bottom quartile, signaling weaker demand or pricing momentum.

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O): A comparison of their Revenue Growth across different time periods.

EPS Growth

EPS growth isn't a meaningful figure for either Crown Castle (CCI) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) or Realty Income (O) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) under our convention.

Growth Metrics

Growth metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
Revenue Growth (YoY)	-4.39%	9.07%
Revenue Growth (3Y CAGR)	-15.17%	19.80%
EPS Growth (YoY)	--	--
EPS Growth (3Y CAGR)	--	--

Financial Strength

Current Ratio (MRQ)

Realty Income (O) at 2.17 carries current ratio above its industry’s typical mid-range, while Crown Castle (CCI) at 0.23 runs in the tighter-liquidity quartile — different working-capital profiles, both worth examining.

CCI

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

0.23

Max: 4.19
Q3: 2.11
Median: 1.31
Q1: 0.62
CCI: 0.23
Min: 0.06

O

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

2.17

Max: 4.19
O: 2.17
Q3: 2.11
Median: 1.31
Q1: 0.62
Min: 0.06

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O): A comparison of their current ratio against the Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group benchmark.

Debt / Equity (MRQ)

Only one side’s leverage can be read here: Realty Income (O) carries debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75 against its industry range, while Crown Castle (CCI) reports no figure this period.

CCI

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

Max: 2.72
Q3: 1.59
Median: 0.99
Q1: 0.72
Min: 0.20
CCI: --

O

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

0.75

Max: 2.72
Q3: 1.59
Median: 0.99
O: 0.75
Q1: 0.72
Min: 0.20

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O): CCI does not report debt-to-equity ratio, so it has no value marker; O is benchmarked against the Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group.

Financial Strength Metrics

Financial strength metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
Current Ratio (MRQ)	0.23	2.17
Debt / Equity (MRQ)	--	0.75
Net Debt / EBITDA	8.61	5.77

Dividends

Dividend Yield (TTM)

Both Crown Castle (CCI) at 4.67% and Realty Income (O) at 5.45% pay solid, industry-typical yields, sitting squarely within their peers’ usual range.

CCI

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

4.67%

Max: 8.62%
Q3: 5.95%
CCI: 4.67%
Median: 4.34%
Q1: 3.26%
Min: 0.00%

O

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

5.45%

Max: 8.62%
Q3: 5.95%
O: 5.45%
Median: 4.34%
Q1: 3.26%
Min: 0.00%

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O): A comparison of their dividend yield against the Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group benchmark.

Dividend Payout Ratio (TTM)

An earnings-based payout ratio fits neither Crown Castle (CCI) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) nor Realty Income (O) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs): their distributions are mandated and conventionally measured against FFO, so the accounting-earnings ratio overstates both.

Dividend Metrics

Dividend metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
Dividend Yield (TTM)	4.67%	5.45%
Dividend Payout Ratio (TTM)	--	--

Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

P/E ratio is not a meaningful valuation yardstick for either Crown Castle (CCI) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) or Realty Income (O) in Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs): depreciation suppresses reported earnings in their businesses, and price-to-FFO is the conventional yardstick instead.

P/S Ratio (TTM)

Both Crown Castle (CCI) at 9.23 and Realty Income (O) at 9.06 command a richer price per dollar of sales than most peers, sitting in the upper P/S ratio quartile of their industries.

CCI

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

9.23

Max: 14.47
CCI: 9.23
Q3: 8.02
Median: 5.98
Q1: 3.27
Min: 0.43

O

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

9.06

Max: 14.47
O: 9.06
Q3: 8.02
Median: 5.98
Q1: 3.27
Min: 0.43

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O): A comparison of their P/S ratio against the Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group benchmark.

P/B Ratio (MRQ)

Crown Castle (CCI) reports a negative P/B ratio of -11.02, meaning negative book equity — the multiple itself is not meaningful for valuation. Meanwhile Realty Income (O) reports 1.42, ranking against industry peers normally.

CCI

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

-11.02

Max: 4.06
Q3: 2.53
Median: 1.64
Q1: 1.06
Min: 0.21
CCI: -11.02

O

Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group

1.42

Max: 4.06
Q3: 2.53
Median: 1.64
O: 1.42
Q1: 1.06
Min: 0.21

Crown Castle (CCI) vs. Realty Income (O): A comparison of their P/B ratio against the Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry group benchmark.

Valuation Metrics

Valuation metrics for Crown Castle (CCI) and Realty Income (O)
Metric	CCI	O
P/E Ratio (TTM)	--	--
P/S Ratio (TTM)	9.23	9.06
P/B Ratio (MRQ)	-11.02	1.42
Free Cash Flow Yield (TTM)	--	--