SBA Communications has seen its share price slide in recent years, which puts a spotlight on a simpler question for investors today. Is the current US$170.01 price in line with the cash flows this tower operator is expected to produce over time, based on a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) view of its business?

• The stock has fallen 43.4% over the past 5 years, which raises the issue of whether the market is reassessing what its long term cash generation is worth.

• SBA Communications runs a capital intensive tower network, so the pace of lease-up, contract renewals and required investment can materially influence the timing and sustainability of its future cash flows.

• What if you looked at SBA Communications through its earnings instead? See what SBA Communications's 18.2x P/E says about the price .

The issue now is whether the cash flows implied by a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) estimate support where SBA Communications shares trade today.

If you are evaluating SBA Communications based solely on what its future cash flows might justify, a focused screen of other businesses using the same approach can be a useful starting point for comparison, including the 27 high quality undervalued stocks .

Is SBA Communications Still Cheap on Cash Flow?

The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model here uses adjusted funds from operations to estimate what SBA Communications could deliver to shareholders over time. Forecasts point to future free cash flow in the mid single digit billions of $ over the coming decade, with projected annual figures such as $1,535.727m in 2030 indicating a business that is modeled as growing rather than shrinking its cash generation.

Those projections are built from a 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity approach, so earlier years carry more specific analyst inputs and later years rely on more formula based growth estimates. When those future cash streams are discounted back and compared with today's US$170.01 share price, the DCF output indicates that the estimated intrinsic value sits substantially above where SBA Communications currently trades. Find out what SBA Communications could be worth using our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) estimate .

The SBA Communications Narrative: What Would Justify Today's Price?

Narratives for SBA Communications pick up where the DCF puzzle leaves off and spell out what would need to happen to growth, margins and earnings for the stock to justify a meaningfully higher or lower share price than today. Rather than a single multiple or headline model number, each narrative lays out the specific assumptions behind its estimated value so you can compare those expectations with SBA Communications' actual results as they come through.