Uniti Group (NasdaqGS:UNIT) - Share price, News & Analysis

UNIT fundamental analysis
Snowflake Score
Valuation	4/6
Future Growth	1/6
Past Performance	2/6
Financial Health	0/6
Dividends	3/6

UNIT Stock Overview

Rewards

Trading at 58.7% below our estimate of its fair value

Earnings are forecast to grow 2.62% per year

Became profitable this year

Risk Analysis

Interest payments are not well covered by earnings

Shareholders have been substantially diluted in the past year

Dividend of 5.57% is not well covered by earnings

Large one-off items impacting financial results

+ 1 more risk

Uniti Group Competitors

Crown Castle International

NYSE:CCI

US$83.0b

Digital Realty Trust

NYSE:DLR

US$39.7b

Gaming and Leisure Properties

NasdaqGS:GLPI

US$11.4b

EPR Properties

NYSE:EPR

US$3.7b

Price History & Performance

Summary of all time highs, changes and price drops for Uniti Group
Historical stock prices
Current Share Price	US$10.77
52 Week High	US$14.60
52 Week Low	US$10.13
Beta	1.03
1 Month Change	-18.84%
3 Month Change	-2.36%
1 Year Change	0.56%
3 Year Change	3.76%
5 Year Change	-56.57%
Change since IPO	-64.14%

Recent News & Updates

Apr 14

Uniti Group: The REIT's Recovery Climb Continues

Uniti Group is a Real Estate Investment Trust with market domination in the eastern part of the United States. The company's strategic plan to drive its market forces from the smaller markets has yielded positive results while it is now set for a robust entry into larger markets. As a broadband provider with a significant presence in rural areas, the company is positioned to benefit from Biden's multibillion-dollar infrastructure plan (broadband inclusive) to expand broadband to underserved areas. Uniti Group's consistent growth with its expansion through acquisitions and a brighter outlook for the year 2022 have further solidified investors' confidence.

Shareholder Returns

	UNIT	US REITs	US Market
7D	0%	-0.7%	-4.0%
1Y	0.6%	-1.3%	-13.2%

Return vs Industry: UNIT exceeded the US REITs industry which returned -2.1% over the past year.

Return vs Market: UNIT exceeded the US Market which returned -12.3% over the past year.

Price Volatility

Is UNIT's price volatile compared to industry and market?
UNIT volatility
UNIT Average Weekly Movement	5.0%
REITs Industry Average Movement	4.4%
Market Average Movement	7.8%
10% most volatile stocks in US Market	16.8%
10% least volatile stocks in US Market	2.9%

Stable Share Price: UNIT is not significantly more volatile than the rest of US stocks over the past 3 months, typically moving +/- 5% a week.

Volatility Over Time: UNIT's weekly volatility (5%) has been stable over the past year.

About the Company

Founded	Employees	CEO	Website
2014	754	Kenny Gunderman	https://www.uniti.com

Uniti, an internally managed real estate investment trust, is engaged in the acquisition and construction of mission critical communications infrastructure, and is a leading provider of wireless infrastructure solutions for the communications industry. As of September 30, 2020, Uniti owns 6.7 million fiber strand miles and other communications real estate throughout the United States.

Uniti Group Fundamentals Summary

How do Uniti Group's earnings and revenue compare to its market cap?
UNIT fundamental statistics
Market Cap	US$5.09b
Earnings (TTM)	US$179.66m
Revenue (TTM)	US$1.11b

14.2x

P/E Ratio

2.3x

P/S Ratio

Is UNIT overvalued?

See Fair Value and valuation analysis

Earnings & Revenue

Key profitability statistics from the latest earnings report
UNIT income statement (TTM)
Revenue	US$1.11b
Cost of Revenue	US$148.88m
Gross Profit	US$957.09m
Other Expenses	US$777.43m
Earnings	US$179.66m

Last Reported Earnings

Mar 31, 2022

Next Earnings Date

n/a

Earnings per share (EPS)	0.76
Gross Margin	86.54%
Net Profit Margin	16.24%
Debt/Equity Ratio	-245.1%

How did UNIT perform over the long term?

See historical performance and comparison

Dividends

5.6%

Current Dividend Yield

27%

Payout Ratio

Does UNIT pay a reliable dividends?

See UNIT dividend history and benchmarks

When do you need to buy UNIT by to receive an upcoming dividend?
Uniti Group dividend dates
Ex Dividend Date	Jun 16 2022
Dividend Pay Date	Jul 01 2022
Days until Ex dividend	21 days
Days until Dividend pay date	36 days

Does UNIT pay a reliable dividends?

See UNIT dividend history and benchmarks

Valuation

Is Uniti Group undervalued compared to its fair value and its price relative to the market?

Valuation Score

4/6

Valuation Score 4/6

Below Fair Value
Significantly Below Fair Value
PE vs Industry
PE vs Market
PEG Ratio
PB vs Industry

>50%

Undervalued compared to fair value

Share Price vs. Fair Value

Below Fair Value: UNIT ($10.77) is trading below our estimate of fair value ($26.11)

Significantly Below Fair Value: UNIT is trading below fair value by more than 20%.

Price To Earnings Ratio

PE vs Industry: UNIT is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (14.2x) compared to the US REITs industry average (32.4x).

PE vs Market: UNIT is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (14.2x) compared to the US market (15.1x).

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

PEG Ratio: UNIT is poor value based on its PEG Ratio (5.4x)

Price to Book Ratio

PB vs Industry: UNIT has negative assets, so we can't compare its Price-To-Book Ratio to the US REITs industry average.

Future Growth

How is Uniti Group forecast to perform in the next 1 to 3 years based on estimates from 9 analysts?

Future Growth Score

1/6

Future Growth Score 1/6

Earnings vs Savings Rate
Earnings vs Market
High Growth Earnings
Revenue vs Market
High Growth Revenue
Future ROE

2.6%

Forecasted annual earnings growth

Earnings and Revenue Growth Forecasts

Analyst Future Growth Forecasts

Earnings vs Savings Rate: UNIT's forecast earnings growth (2.6% per year) is above the savings rate (1.9%).

Earnings vs Market: UNIT's earnings (2.6% per year) are forecast to grow slower than the US market (12.3% per year).

High Growth Earnings: UNIT's earnings are forecast to grow, but not significantly.

Revenue vs Market: UNIT's revenue (2.9% per year) is forecast to grow slower than the US market (7.8% per year).

High Growth Revenue: UNIT's revenue (2.9% per year) is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year.

Earnings per Share Growth Forecasts

Future Return on Equity

Future ROE: Insufficient data to determine if UNIT's Return on Equity is forecast to be high in 3 years time

Past Performance

How has Uniti Group performed over the past 5 years?

Past Performance Score

2/6

Past Performance Score 2/6

Quality Earnings
Growing Profit Margin
Earnings Trend
Accelerating Growth
Earnings vs Industry
High ROE

-25.6%

Historical annual earnings growth

Earnings and Revenue History

Quality Earnings: UNIT has a large one-off gain of $34.0M impacting its March 31 2022 financial results.

Growing Profit Margin: UNIT became profitable in the past.

Past Earnings Growth Analysis

Earnings Trend: UNIT has become profitable over the past 5 years, growing earnings by -25.6% per year.

Accelerating Growth: UNIT has become profitable in the last year, making the earnings growth rate difficult to compare to its 5-year average.

Earnings vs Industry: UNIT has become profitable in the last year, making it difficult to compare its past year earnings growth to the REITs industry (69.5%).

Return on Equity

High ROE: UNIT's liabilities exceed its assets, so it is difficult to calculate its Return on Equity.

Financial Health

How is Uniti Group's financial position?

Financial Health Score

0/6

Financial Health Score 0/6

Short Term Liabilities
Long Term Liabilities
Debt Level
Reducing Debt
Debt Coverage
Interest Coverage

Financial Position Analysis

Short Term Liabilities: UNIT has negative shareholder equity, which is a more serious situation than short term assets not covering short term liabilities.

Long Term Liabilities: UNIT has negative shareholder equity, which is a more serious situation than short term assets not covering long term liabilities.

Debt to Equity History and Analysis

Debt Level: UNIT has negative shareholder equity, which is a more serious situation than a high debt level.

Reducing Debt: UNIT's has negative shareholder equity, so we do not need to check if its debt has reduced over time.

Debt Coverage: UNIT's debt is not well covered by operating cash flow (8.5%).

Interest Coverage: UNIT's interest payments on its debt are not well covered by EBIT (1.4x coverage).

Balance Sheet

Dividend

What is Uniti Group current dividend yield, its reliability and sustainability?

Dividend Score

4/6

Dividend Score 4/6

Notable Dividend
High Dividend
Stable Dividend
Growing Dividend
Earnings Coverage
Future Dividend Coverage

5.57%

Current Dividend Yield

Upcoming Dividend Payment

Dividend Yield vs Market

Notable Dividend: UNIT's dividend (5.57%) is higher than the bottom 25% of dividend payers in the US market (1.57%).

High Dividend: UNIT's dividend (5.57%) is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the US market (4.05%)

Stability and Growth of Payments

Stable Dividend: UNIT has been paying a dividend for less than 10 years and during this time payments have been volatile.

Growing Dividend: UNIT has only been paying a dividend for 7 years, and since then payments have fallen.

Earnings Payout to Shareholders

Earnings Coverage: With its reasonably low payout ratio (27.4%), UNIT's dividend payments are well covered by earnings.

Cash Payout to Shareholders

Cash Flow Coverage: With its high cash payout ratio (717.4%), UNIT's dividend payments are not well covered by cash flows.

Discover strong dividend paying companies

Management

How experienced are the management team and are they aligned to shareholders interests?

1.3yrs

Average management tenure

CEO

Kenny Gunderman (50 yo)

7.17yrs

Tenure

US$5,018,444

Compensation

Mr. Kenneth A. Gunderman, also known as Kenny, has been Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of Uniti Group Inc. since March 2, 2015. Mr. Gunderman has years of investment banking experience and...

CEO Compensation Analysis

Compensation vs Market: Kenny's total compensation ($USD5.02M) is below average for companies of similar size in the US market ($USD8.23M).

Compensation vs Earnings: Kenny's compensation has been consistent with company performance over the past year.

Leadership Team

Experienced Management: UNIT's management team is not considered experienced ( 1.3 years average tenure), which suggests a new team.

Board Members

Experienced Board: UNIT's board of directors are considered experienced (6.9 years average tenure).

Ownership

Who are the major shareholders and have insiders been buying or selling?

Insider Trading Volume

Insider Buying: Insufficient data to determine if insiders have bought more shares than they have sold in the past 3 months.

Ownership Breakdown

Dilution of Shares: Shareholders have been substantially diluted in the past year, with total shares outstanding growing by 98.8%.

Data	Last Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis	2022/05/24 00:00
End of Day Share Price	2022/05/24 00:00
Earnings	2022/03/31
Annual Earnings	2021/12/31