Crown Castle International Corp vs Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF — how do they compare? Crown Castle International Corp trades at $79.01 (market cap $34.50B), while Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF trades at $97.75. The key difference: Crown Castle International Corp pays a 5.38% dividend while Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF pays none, and Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF is trading nearer its 52-week high, Crown Castle International Corp nearer its low. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| CCI | VNQ | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $34.50B | — |
Sector | Real Estate | — |
52-Week High | $113.91 | $98.66 |
52-Week Low | $74.92 | $87.00 |
Enterprise Value | $64.33B | — |
Dividend Yield | 5.38% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Crown Castle (CCI) trades at $79.84, up 0.23% on the day, with a bearish technical signal from moving averages. The company reported mixed Q1 2026 earnings, missing EPS estimates, but maintains strong profitability with a 73.82% gross margin. Recent news highlights its pure-play U.S. tower focus and upcoming Q2 2026 earnings call on July 22, 2026.
CCI presents a turnaround opportunity with analyst consensus targeting $97.33, implying 22% upside, but faces risks from high debt levels and volatile earnings. The stock's negative equity and bearish technicals warrant caution despite attractive dividend yield and cost reduction initiatives.
VNQ (Vanguard Real Estate ETF) trades at $97.87, up 0.57% today, with a bullish technical signal from moving averages. The ETF shows strong momentum in the real estate sector, benefiting from AI-driven data center REIT performance. Recent news highlights REITs outpacing the broader market despite interest rate pressures, with VNQ being the default choice for real estate exposure.
The outlook for VNQ remains positive as real estate fundamentals strengthen, with dividends rising and M&A activity intensifying. Key risks include persistent high interest rates and inflation volatility. Wall Street sentiment is cautiously optimistic, focusing on durable income streams and sector recovery potential amid macroeconomic uncertainties.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Crown Castle International owns and leases roughly 40,000 cell towers in the United States. It also owns more than 85,000 route miles of fiber. It leases space on its towers to wireless service providers, which install equipment on the towers to support their wireless networks. The company's fiber is primarily leased by wireless service providers to set up small-cell network infrastructure and by enterprises for their internal connection needs. Crown Castle's towers and fiber are predominantly located in the largest U.S. cities. The company has a very concentrated customer base, with more than 70% of its revenue coming from the big three U.S. mobile carriers. Crown Castle operates as a real estate investment trust.
Read more on CCI →The fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the MSCI US Investable Market Real Estate 25/50 Index, an index made up of stocks of large, mid-size, and small US companies within the real estate sector. The Advisor attempts to replicate the target index by seeking to invest all of its assets in the stocks that make up the index, in order to hold each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index. It is non-diversified.
Read more on VNQ →