Healthpeak Properties offered a 6.7% yield at the October 9 close, above Crown Castle's 5.4%. More important, Healthpeak entered the comparison with materially stronger dividend coverage, even though both companies have cut their payouts in the past.
Healthpeak rebuilt its payout capacity
Healthpeak's adjusted funds from operations, or AFFO, covered its 2025 dividend with a 72% payout ratio. The source's 2026 consensus estimate puts the ratio near 78%, based on $1.57 of AFFO per share and about $1.23 of annual dividends. That still leaves more than one-fifth of AFFO available after the dividend.
The operating picture is mixed rather than uniformly strong. Healthpeak's senior-housing business has been the main growth engine, while laboratory properties remain softer. The company raised the midpoint of its 2026 FFO as Adjusted guidance after the second quarter, but lab occupancy and same-store net operating income remain important watchpoints.
Crown Castle has less room for error
Crown Castle reported second-quarter 2026 AFFO of $1.13 per share, up 10% from a year earlier. Site-rental revenue nevertheless fell 4% to $967 million because of Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations. Management expects full-year AFFO of $4.53 to $4.65 per share against a $4.25 annual dividend.
That guidance covers the payment, but the buffer is narrow. Crown Castle paid out 109% of AFFO in 2025, and the source's consensus estimate places the 2026 ratio at 93%. Management has said it plans to keep the dividend at $4.25 until the payout ratio returns to a 75% to 80% target.
The risk trade-off is not one-sided
Healthpeak's stronger payout coverage comes with a different balance-sheet concern. The source calculated EBIT interest coverage of about 1.49 times for Healthpeak, compared with roughly 2.13 times for Crown Castle. Interest coverage measures how many times operating profit covers interest expense; a lower figure leaves less protection if borrowing costs or operating weakness persist.
Healthpeak also needs its lab portfolio to recover. The source reported 78.5% lab occupancy in the second quarter, making leasing progress a concrete indicator for the next results. Crown Castle's key tests are whether site-rental pressure eases, leverage declines and its DISH claims produce recoveries.
Valuation and conclusion
At the cited prices, Healthpeak traded near 12.2 times forward AFFO, while Crown Castle traded near 16.2 times. The lower multiple does not remove Healthpeak's execution risk, but it provides a less demanding starting point alongside the higher yield and wider coverage.
BTI views Healthpeak as the stronger income choice today. Crown Castle can improve if AFFO growth continues, yet investors are still being asked to wait for a payout cushion that Healthpeak already has.