We recently published a list of Why These 15 Real Estate Stocks Are Surging In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Crown Castle Inc (NYSE:CCI) stands against other real estate stocks that are surging in 2025.

For years, real estate stocks have been a source of anxiety for investors due to the scars of the Great Recession. That crisis has led to lingering skepticism, and many see real estate as a no-go zone today due to GDP growth turning negative quarter-over-quarter and expectations of a recession. Investors fear that a recession could drag these stocks down once more.

However, these companies have learned from the Great Recession, and some of them have delivered stellar gains so far. It is a good idea to keep an eye on the winners, as they could outperform during market downturns.

Even during bear markets, there are pockets of the market that perform exceptionally well. For example, I identified 15 Healthcare Stocks that are up the Most in 2025 in another article

Methodology

For this article, I screened the best-performing real estate stocks year-to-date.

I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).Why Crown Castle Inc (CCI) Is Surging In 2025?

A close-up of an array of cell towers on a distant hilltop.

Crown Castle Inc (NYSE:CCI)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 54

Crown Castle Inc (NYSE:CCI) is the largest provider of shared communications infrastructure in the United States. It owns and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber across the country.

The stock’s rally in 2025 was triggered mainly by the announcement of the $4.25 billion sale of its fiber assets, which the market viewed as a strategic shift to focus on its higher-margin tower business.

This asset sale, announced in early March, resulted in an immediate stock price gain as investors welcomed the move to reduce debt and launch a $3 billion share repurchase program. However, the company also announced a reduction in its annual dividend to about $4.25 per share, down from $6.26, to align payouts with its new business mix and to maintain financial flexibility.

The consensus price target of $110.47 implies 6.38% upside.

Story Continues

CCI stock is up 16.17% year-to-date.

Overall, CCI ranks 13th on our list of real estate stocks that are surging in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of CCI, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CCI but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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