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What happened
Shares of Communications Sales & Leasing (NASDAQ: CSAL) fell as much as 12.1% in Monday's morning session. The former infrastructure arm of Windstream Holdings (WINMQ) released third-quarter results earlier this morning, giving investors a perfect opportunity to revisit their CS&L investment theses.
So what
In the third quarter, CS&L saw the non-GAAP profit measure known as adjusted funds from operations (or AFFO) rising 7% year over year to $0.65 per diluted share. Revenue increased 15%, landing at $200.2 million.
Your average analyst would have settled for AFFO of $0.62 per share on something like $199 million in top-line sales. CS&L exceeded both of these analyst targets.
Looking ahead, CS&L's management raised their full-year AFFO guidance from $2.59 per share to $2.61 per share.
Now what
So the company delivers a beat-and-raise report, and share prices plunge. What gives?
Well, even after today's steep drop and a general slide over the last three months, CS&L shares are still trading up by a market-beating 25% so far in 2016. Market makers are still getting their bearings on this unusual business model, leaving lots of room for sudden price swings in either direction.
As a CS&L shareholder myself, I kind of appreciate the stock cooling down a bit. The stock comes with a hefty 10% dividend yield, and I have enrolled my shares in a dividend reinvestment program. So when CS&L pays out $0.60 per share on Jan. 13, I don't mind getting more bang for my dividend buck via lower share prices.
Someday, CS&L will settle down and start behaving like the boring infrastructure cash machine that it is. Until then, these wild swings could serve as solid buy-in opportunities.
