Uniti rises after posting Q1 beat, guidance in-line with consensus

Telecommunications REIT Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) rose ~12% Thursday afternoon after posting Q1 beat and guidance in-line with consensus.

The company's Q1 AFFO was $0.39, beats by $0.16, and revenue stood at $289.82M (+4.2% Y/Y), beats by $2.93M.

Net loss came in at $19.2M, while adjusted EBITDA was $231.2M.

The Fiber segment contributed $79.0M of revenues and $33.7M of adjusted EBITDA. The Leasing unit contributed $210.8M of revenues and $205.0M of adjusted EBITDA.

The company had ~$495.3M of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and undrawn borrowing availability under its revolving credit agreement.

For FY23, UNIT expects $1.154B - $1.174B in revenue, vs. $1.16B consensus.

Attributable net income is expected to be between $60M and $80M, while adjusted EBITDA should be in the range of $915M to $935M.

FY23 AFFO is expected to range between $1.38 and $1.45 per diluted common share with a midpoint of $1.41 per diluted share, vs. $1.03 consensus.

"Our 2023 outlook for consolidated revenue and adjusted EBITDA remains unchanged. However, we are slightly lowering our Uniti fiber adjusted EBITDA estimate," CFO Paul Bullington said during the company's Q1 earnings call.

"We are also increasing our AFFO per share for full year 2023 as a result of finalizing the accounting impact relating to our recent refinancings," said.