Speaker · Updated
Craig Moffett: latest market views
MoffettNathanson
Summary
Craig Moffett is co-founder, partner and senior research analyst at MoffettNathanson, a longtime top-ranked Wall Street analyst of the cable, satellite and telecommunications sectors who previously spent over a decade at Sanford Bernstein and eleven years at Boston Consulting Group.
Chorus has 6 views from Craig Moffett across 2 episodes on CNBC Closing Bell since October 23, 2026. Their latest calls: bullish on Crown Castle; bearish on Apple and Space Exploration Technologies.
Where they stand
Their latest bullish or bearish call on each company.
- AppleBearish ·
- Crown CastleBullish ·
- Space Exploration TechnologiesBearish ·
What they talk about most
The latest views
Newest first. Every quote is checked against the episode's transcript.
AppleBearish
Apple's safe-haven premium is priced in at 36x forward earnings, so the stock may have overshot.
Moffett says Apple is seen as the safe choice among mega caps, and that trade has played out for months. The stock trades at about 36 times forward earnings, a roughly 2.8% earnings yield, which he notes is about half the Treasury yield. He argues the safety is already fully priced in, so the stock may have overshot. He also points out that Apple fell today while money was leaving other mega caps, which he reads as a sign that money may rotate into cheaper companies with better free cash flow or earnings yields rather than into names that have already run up this year, Apple included.
“It's already priced in so much safety that you wonder whether it... It's overshot somewhat.”at 42:48
AppleBearish
Memory-driven price hikes on Apple devices make the upgrade cycle harder, as customers keep old phones longer.
Moffett says higher memory costs have already raised the price of Apple's base devices by $100. US wireless carriers have not increased promotions to offset this, so consumers are paying more, whether up front or spread over 36 months of payments. He argues that everything has price elasticity. The real competition for Apple is not Android, but the device customers already own. Higher price tags make people hold on to their current phone a few more months, and since existing Apple devices work well, that inertia is the challenge Apple has to overcome in the upgrade cycle.
“No question. It's already raised the price of devices by a $100 in... all the base devices.”at 43:51
The SpaceX threat to telcos is a narrative overhang, not a near-term earnings threat; it could take years.
Moffett says the telco sell-off is overdone if it is based on earnings. The threat is more narrative than financial. SpaceX could take years to build anything that mounts a real threat, if it ever does, so investors face an overhang with uncertain duration and little demonstrated earnings damage.
“Well, it is if you're basing the sell off on the threat to earnings. The problem is this is more of a narrative threat than a financial threat... It could take years for SpaceX to actually do anything that that mounts a threat if if if at all.”at 23:08
CNBC Closing Bell: Closing Bell Overtime: Markets Search for Opportunity After a Wild Week 10/23/26 ·
Space Exploration TechnologiesBearish
SpaceX building a terrestrial wireless network as fourth player lacks clearly attractive returns.
Moffett had argued satellites cannot offload much traffic, so competing well requires a terrestrial network. A terrestrial build gives SpaceX a cost structure no different from the carriers, and offloading to satellites loses its advantage once the network exists. He is puzzled why SpaceX would enter as the fourth player, since the return is not clearly attractive. He adds that subsidised handsets and a long startup phase would keep cash flow negative for a long time.
“I'm trying to figure out what is it that makes you want to be in this business as the fourth player. Because... It's it's just not clear that there's an attractive return here.”at 25:07
CNBC Closing Bell: Closing Bell Overtime: Markets Search for Opportunity After a Wild Week 10/23/26 ·
Crown CastleBullish
A SpaceX tower build would bring real, high-margin lease revenue to tower companies like Crown Castle.
Moffett cites colleague Nick Del Deo's view that the market reaction suggests a big tower build. SpaceX has now said it will do one. It is unclear who it would use, but if it follows through there is real revenue for towers with very high marginal contribution, since the towers already exist and SpaceX would be another tenant on leased space.
“my colleague Nick Del Deo, who covers the towers, would say that just the reaction last time suggested a pretty big tower build. This time, they've said they're gonna do a big tower build. It's not clear who they do it with, but if they actually follow through, there's there's real revenue for the towers, and it's very high marginal contribution.”at 27:06
CNBC Closing Bell: Closing Bell Overtime: Markets Search for Opportunity After a Wild Week 10/23/26 ·
A new bidder in the upper C-band spectrum auction would raise carriers' costs with no added revenue.
Even if SpaceX never builds a network, bidding for spectrum could push up prices. The upper C-band auction is due next year. If another bidder enters, prices could rise sharply. Paying more for spectrum generates no extra revenue, so Moffett calls this unequivocally bad for carriers.
“Even if they don't successfully build a network, if they start bidding for spectrum that could really bid up the price of spectrum. There's a spectrum auction due next year called the upper c band spectrum auction. And if that happens, and there's another bidder, you could see much higher prices. It doesn't generate any extra revenues.”at 28:11
CNBC Closing Bell: Closing Bell Overtime: Markets Search for Opportunity After a Wild Week 10/23/26 ·
Shows
- CNBC Closing Bell · 2 episodes
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