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 SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC) 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).

Aerial view of tall antenna towers and the landscape around them.

SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 44

SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC) is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, such as towers, buildings, distributed antenna systems, and small cells, primarily leasing antenna space to wireless service providers.

The stock’s strong performance in 2025 has been underpinned by robust domestic leasing revenue growth. Despite missing earnings per share estimates by $0.34, revenue slightly exceeded expectations, and the company raised its full-year outlook for both revenue and EBITDA due to a substantial backlog and ongoing network investment by US mobile operators.

The most impactful event was the announcement of a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program in April 2025, which demonstrated management’s confidence in future growth and directly supported the stock price. SBA also exited less profitable international markets, including the Philippines and Colombia, to focus on higher-growth domestic operations.

The consensus price target of $252.38 implies 5.82% upside.

SBAC stock is up 17.63% year-to-date.

Overall, SBAC ranks 11th on our list of real estate stocks that are surging in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of SBAC, 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 SBAC 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.