American Tower
Own-and-lease shared macro-tower and rooftop sites to mobile carriers on ~5-10yr non-cancellable leases with ~3% U.S. / CPI-linked international escalators and high-margin colocation upside; CoreSite adds retail/interconnection data-center leasing. Recurring, contracted, inflation-hedged cash flows; capital-intensive with REIT dividend payout.
Sources — 11 figures with citations
- Q2 2026 revenue, margins and earningsfiled2026-06-30Total revenue $2,749.1M (+4.7%); property revenue $2,687.8M (+6.3%); services $61.3M (vs $99.5M); property gross margin $1,980M / 73.7% (+4.9%); operating income $1,268.8M; adjusted EBITDA $1,808M (+3.2%) / 65.8% margin; net income $887.5M (+133.2%); diluted EPS $1.86; AFFO attributable to common $1,264M (+3.8%) / $2.71 per share (+4.2%)sec.gov — Consolidated Highlights, Consolidated Operating Results Overview and Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations, Form 8-K Ex-99.1 filed 2026-07-28
- Currency distortion in the net-income comparisonfiled2026-06-30Q2 2026 included foreign-currency GAINS of $42.1M versus foreign-currency LOSSES of $(484.0)M in Q2 2025; H1 2026 unrealized FX gains $110.2M vs $(829.7)M in H1 2025sec.gov — Footnote (1) to the operating-results table and the 'Other income (expense)' line of the Statements of Operations. This is why net income rose 133.2% while adjusted EBITDA rose only 3.2%
- Organic and total tenant billings growthfiled2026-06-30Q2 2026 Total Tenant Billings Growth $46M / +2.4%; Organic Tenant Billings Growth $34M / +1.7%. FY2026 guided Organic Tenant Billings: US & Canada ~0.5%, Latin America ~-3%, Africa & APAC ~8.5%, Europe ~4%, total ~1%sec.gov — Consolidated Operating Results Overview table and the 2026 Outlook for Total Tenant Billings Growth table
- FY2026 outlook (raised second time)filed2026-07-28Property revenue $10,695-$10,845M (+4.5%); net income $3,270-$3,350M (+25.9%); adjusted EBITDA $7,240-$7,310M (+2.0%); AFFO attributable to common $5,135-$5,215M (+2.7%); AFFO/share $11.00-$11.17 (+3.0%). Midpoints raised by $110M / $255M / $45M / $45M / $0.09 respectivelysec.gov — Full Year 2026 Outlook section. Management attributes the raise to FX ($35M revenue / $22M EBITDA / $0.06 AFFO per share), Data Center outperformance and one-time expense benefits, and the net-income raise 'primarily due to unrealized foreign currency gains'
- FY2026 segment property-revenue guidancefiled2026-07-28US & Canada $5,060-$5,120M (-3.0%); Latin America $1,790-$1,810M (+9.6%); Africa & APAC $1,620-$1,640M (+14.6%); Europe $1,025-$1,055M (+10.9%); Data Centers $1,200-$1,220M (+14.9%)sec.gov — Footnote (1) to the 2026 Outlook table. The US & Canada growth rate includes an estimated negative impact of over 3% from lower non-cash straight-line revenue recognition
- Cash flow, capex and free cash flowfiled2026-06-30Q2 2026 operating cash flow $1,487M (+16.0%); total cash capex $329M (+5.1%, incl. $7.9M of finance-lease/perpetual-easement payments; $47M non-discretionary/corporate); free cash flow $1,158M (+19.6%). H1 2026 operating cash flow $2,887.4M; H1 payments for property/equipment and construction $770.4M. FY2026 capex guided $1,805-$1,915M incl. $695M Data Centers development and 1,700-2,300 new sitessec.gov — Consolidated Operating Results Overview, Capital Expenditures paragraph, Outlook for Capital Expenditures table and the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
- Leverage, debt and liquidityfiled2026-06-30Total debt $37,190M less cash $1,763M = net debt $35,427M; annualized Q2 adjusted EBITDA $7,233M; Net Leverage Ratio 4.9x. Total liquidity ~$9.9B (~$1.8B cash + ~$8.2B revolver capacity). Q2 interest expense $354.5M vs $342.6Msec.gov — Leverage and Financing Overview section plus the Statements of Operations. Financing activity in the quarter: $700M 1.600% notes repaid Apr 14, EUR 500M 1.950% notes repaid May 21, EUR 750M (~$872M) 4.000% notes due 2033 issued May 27, EUR 250M of 4.125% 2027 notes redeemed Jun 18
- Capital returns and portfolio actionsfiled2026-06-30Q2 2026 distribution $1.79/share declared (+5.3% YoY), $834.1M aggregate; ~0.1M shares repurchased for ~$19M. ATC Philippines sold Jun 15, 2026 for $75.6M; controlling interest in Kirtonkhola Tower Bangladesh sold Jun 29, 2026 for $6.9Msec.gov — Capital Allocation Overview section
- H1 2026 income statementfiled2026-06-30Total revenue $5,486.6M (+5.7% vs $5,189.7M); property revenue $5,357.7M; operating income $2,508.0M; net income $1,766.0M (vs $879.1M); diluted EPS $3.70 (vs $1.83)sec.gov — Six-months columns of the Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations; growth percentages derived from the filed dollar figures
- Price, market capitalization and yieldmarket2026-08-03$173.00 close; market cap ~$80.61B on 465.96M shares outstanding; 52-wk range $160.06-$214.79; dividend yield ~4.14% on a $7.16 annualized distributionstockanalysis.com — Aug 3, 2026 regular-session CLOSE (4:00 PM EDT), not an intraday level. Derived: EV ~$116.0B = $80.61B equity + $35.43B net debt, = ~16.0x the FY2026 adjusted-EBITDA midpoint of $7,275M; price / FY2026 AFFO-per-share midpoint $11.085 = ~15.6x
- Q2 2026 result vs consensusmarket2026-07-28AFFO/share $2.71 MET the consensus estimate; GAAP diluted EPS $1.86 beat a ~$1.55 consensus by ~20%; total revenue beat consensus by ~1.4%tradingview.com — Consensus figures are third-party aggregates, not filed. The reported AFFO/share, EPS and revenue are from the 8-K
Earnings, margins, COGS & capex
FY2025 revenue $10.65B (+5.1%), adjusted EBITDA $7.13B (+4.7%, ~67% margin), net income $2.63B (+15.3%, aided by lower FX losses and prior-year impairments rolling off), AFFO/common $5.04B or $10.76/sh (+2.2%). Q1 2026 accelerated: revenue $2,738M (+6.8%), net income $879M (+76.2%), adjusted EBITDA $1,835M (+5.2%), AFFO $1,324M or $2.84/sh (+2.6%). Growth is organic-lease-driven and inflation-escalated; headline AFFO/sh growth is muted by one-time DISH/Sprint churn and FX, ~4-5% on a normalized FX-neutral basis. CoreSite data centers are the standout, +~14% in 2025.
Income statement — where each revenue dollar goes
% of revenueOf every $1 of revenue, ~26¢ is cost of goods and ~28¢ operating expense, leaving ~46¢ of operating profit (~25¢ net).
Revenue trend
Margins
widening ~20bps/yr
up YoY on FX/impairment normalization
stable
stable
COGS structure
Primary property opex is ground/land rent (largest cost line — AMT owns or has long-term rights to much of its land to control this), site maintenance, property tax, and power/fuel (notably in international/African markets where diesel and grid instability raise cost). High operating leverage: incremental tenants on an existing tower add ~near-100% incremental margin.
Capex
~$1.7B FY2025 total capex; ~$0.6B data-center (CoreSite) development, remainder split between discretionary tower construction (~2,150 new builds at midpoint), redevelopment/augmentation, and maintenance. Data-center capex is rising with AI/interconnection demand; management targets mid-teens stabilized yields on new deployments.
Latest earnings
Mixed beat-and-raise. Revenue beat ($2,749.1M, +4.7%, roughly 1.4% above consensus) and GAAP diluted EPS of $1.86 beat a ~$1.55 consensus by ~20% — but the EPS beat is largely non-operational: net income rose 133.2% mainly on a $42.1M FX GAIN this quarter versus a $(484.0)M FX LOSS a year ago. On the metric that matters for a tower REIT, AFFO/share of $2.71 (+4.2%) merely MET consensus. Full-year outlook raised for the second time in 2026
RAISED FY2026 (second raise this year): property revenue $10,695-$10,845M (+4.5% at midpoint, +$110M vs prior); adjusted EBITDA $7,240-$7,310M (+2.0%, +$45M); AFFO attributable to common $5,135-$5,215M (+2.7%, +$45M); AFFO/share $11.00-$11.17 (+3.0%, +$0.09); net income $3,270-$3,350M (+$255M, primarily unrealized FX gains). Management attributes the raise to FX, Data Center outperformance and one-time expense benefits. FY2026 capex $1,805-$1,915M
- AFFO/share Q2 2026
- $2.71 (+4.2%); AFFO attributable to common $1,264M (+3.8%)
- Adjusted EBITDA Q2 2026
- $1,808M (+3.2%), margin 65.8%
- Organic Tenant Billings Growth Q2 2026
- +1.7% ($34M); Total Tenant Billings Growth +2.4% ($46M)
- FY2026 segment property-revenue growth (guided, midpoint)
- US & Canada -3.0% (includes >3pp drag from lower non-cash straight-line revenue), Latin America +9.6%, Africa & APAC +14.6%, Europe +10.9%, Data Centers +14.9%
- Data Centers segment FY2026 property revenue (guided)
- $1,200-$1,220M, +14.9%; CEO cited 'record leasing activity at CoreSite'; $695M of FY2026 development spend
- Free cash flow Q2 2026
- $1,158M (+19.6%); operating cash flow $1,487M (+16.0%), total cash capex $329M (+5.1%)
- Net Leverage Ratio
- 4.9x (net debt $35,427M / annualized Q2 adjusted EBITDA $7,233M)
- Q2 2026 distribution
- $1.79/share declared (+5.3% YoY), $834.1M aggregate; only ~0.1M shares repurchased for ~$19M
- Portfolio pruning
- ATC Philippines sold Jun 15, 2026 for $75.6M; controlling interest in Kirtonkhola Tower Bangladesh sold Jun 29, 2026 for $6.9M
- Services revenue
- $61.3M in Q2 2026, down from $99.5M — a 38% decline, offsetting property growth in the total-revenue line
Growth drivers
- Carrier network densification / 5G mid-band and eventual 6G — new colocations and amendments on existing towers
- Contractual escalators (~3% U.S., CPI-linked internationally) providing organic same-tower growth independent of new leasing
- CoreSite data centers riding AI, hybrid/multi-cloud and interconnection demand (~13-14% revenue growth)
- New-market tower builds in Africa, Europe, and Latin America
- Churn roll-off (DISH/Sprint consolidation) normalizing after 2026, unlocking cleaner underlying AFFO/sh growth
Reported financials — SEC EDGAR
Audited GAAP figures pulled from SEC filings · latest filing 2026-02-24. The audited primary-source spine — not financial advice.
Revenue — annual (GAAP)
Margins & balance sheet — FY’25
Bull & bear
The second guidance raise of 2026 lifted every line — property revenue, adjusted EBITDA, AFFO and AFFO/share — while free cash flow grew 19.6% on flat-ish capex, the data-center segment is compounding near 15% on record CoreSite leasing, and the stock sits near the bottom of its 52-week range at ~15.6x forward AFFO with a 4.1% yield.
- Second FY2026 raise: AFFO/share guidance to $11.00-$11.17 (+$0.09), property revenue +$110M, adjusted EBITDA +$45M — a consistent beat-and-raise cadence in a rate-pressured tape
- Free cash flow $1,158M in Q2, up 19.6%, on operating cash flow +16.0% and total cash capex of only $329M — the cash engine is strengthening faster than the revenue line
- Data Centers is the real growth leg: FY2026 property revenue guided $1,200-$1,220M (+14.9%) with the CEO citing record CoreSite leasing, funded by $695M of development spend — a lever CCI and SBAC do not have
- International tower growth is accelerating even as the US matures: FY2026 guided property-revenue growth of +14.6% Africa & APAC, +10.9% Europe, +9.6% Latin America, with Africa & APAC Total Tenant Billings Growth ~12% and Europe ~10%
- Property gross margin held at 73.7% (+4.9% in dollars) and adjusted EBITDA margin at 65.8% — the operating-leverage model is intact
- Balance sheet is managed rather than stressed: 4.9x net leverage with ~$9.9B of liquidity, €750M of 4.000% 2033 notes issued in May 2026 to term out maturities, and $700M plus €500M of 2026 maturities already repaid
- Capital discipline in the portfolio: low-return markets are being exited (Philippines, Bangladesh) rather than defended, while the distribution grew 5.3% to $1.79/quarter
Strip out currency and the growth is thin: Organic Tenant Billings Growth was just +1.7% in Q2, FY2026 US & Canada property revenue is guided DOWN 3%, adjusted EBITDA is guided +2.0%, AFFO/share +3.0% — and the headline 133% net-income surge is an FX swing, not operations, on a balance sheet carrying $35.4B of net debt at 4.9x.
- The core organic engine is nearly flat: Organic Tenant Billings Growth of +1.7% ($34M) in Q2 and ~1% guided for FY2026 — for a business whose thesis is contractual escalators plus new leasing, that is barely above the escalator
- The largest segment is shrinking: FY2026 US & Canada property revenue guided at $5,060-$5,120M, DOWN 3.0%, roughly half of total property revenue going backwards (over 3pp of it a non-cash straight-line-revenue drag, but the guide is the guide)
- The EPS 'beat' is currency, not earnings: net income +133.2% reflects a $42.1M FX gain versus a $(484.0)M FX loss a year ago, and management explicitly attributes the $255M net-income guidance raise 'primarily due to unrealized foreign currency gains'. AFFO/share, the cash metric, only MET consensus
- Adjusted EBITDA is guided +2.0% and AFFO/share +3.0% for FY2026 — mid-single-digit AFFO growth is not being delivered on a reported basis, and part of the raise came from FX (+$22M EBITDA, +$0.06 AFFO/share) and 'one-time expense benefits' rather than durable leasing
- Leverage is unchanged at 4.9x with $35.4B of net debt and $354.5M of quarterly interest expense (up from $342.6M) — refinancing at higher coupons (the new 2033 notes price at 4.000%) mechanically erodes AFFO/share
- Services revenue collapsed 38% to $61.3M from $99.5M, which is why total revenue grew only +4.7% against property revenue's +6.3% — the carrier-activity indicator embedded in services is deteriorating
- Latin America Total Tenant Billings Growth is guided at roughly -3% — churn and FX in emerging markets continue to offset the higher-growth Africa/Europe contribution, and the buyback is effectively dormant (~$19M in the quarter against $834.1M of distributions)
What it is worth
AFFO-multiple / dividend-yield triangulation (standard for tower REITs), cross-checked vs CCI/SBAC
~$140-160
higher-for-longer rates compress the multiple, incremental carrier/DISH churn and FX drag hold AFFO/sh growth to low-single-digits.
~$180-205
mid-single-digit AFFO/sh growth, stable ~16-18x multiple, growing dividend.
~$230-250
rates ease, DISH churn clears, CoreSite AI growth compounds, multiple re-rates back toward ~20x forward AFFO.
At ~$166.03 and FY2026E AFFO/sh ~$10.90-11.07, AMT trades ~15x forward AFFO — a discount to its historical ~20-24x, reflecting rate and growth-deceleration concerns (dividend yield ~4.3% on the $7.16/sh annualized payout). A leveraged, contracted-cash-flow REIT; re-rating hinges on rates easing and churn roll-off restoring cleaner mid-single-digit+ AFFO growth.
SWOT
Strengths
- Largest global independent tower portfolio (nearly 150,000 sites) — irreplaceable, high-barrier vertical real estate
- Long-duration contracted, inflation-escalated revenue with high renewal rates and ~near-100% incremental margins on colocations
- CoreSite gives a differentiated, high-growth data-center/interconnection leg tied to AI demand — a lever peers CCI/SBAC lack
- Investment-grade balance sheet, ~$11.1B liquidity, disciplined capital allocation
Weaknesses
- High financial leverage (~4.9x) makes AFFO/sh sensitive to interest rates and refinancing costs
- Customer concentration — the big-3 U.S. carriers plus consolidation churn (DISH/Sprint) drive multi-year revenue drags
- Meaningful emerging-market FX exposure (Africa, LatAm) creating reported-revenue and margin volatility
- Slowing headline growth vs its own history as U.S. carrier capex matures
Opportunities
- AI-driven data-center and edge demand expanding CoreSite and potential tower-adjacent compute
- 6G / further densification and private-network / fixed-wireless leasing
- Escalator-driven organic growth as a real inflation hedge
- Portfolio pruning of low-return international markets to redeploy into U.S. towers + data centers
Threats
- Carrier consolidation and decommissioning (DISH/EchoStar risk, past Sprint/T-Mobile churn)
- Sustained higher-for-longer rates pressuring a leveraged REIT's cost of capital and multiple
- Competition/alternatives — small cells, DAS, satellite direct-to-device (Starlink/AST) as long-tail coverage substitutes
- Sovereign/FX/political risk in African and Latin American operations
Moats, dependencies & bottlenecks
Moats
Permitting, zoning, and land rights make new macro towers near-impossible to replicate in dense areas; incumbency is the moat.
Adding tenants 2-3 on an existing tower is near-100% incremental margin — a structural cost advantage no new entrant can match on a single-tenant build.
Carriers face high cost and coverage risk to relocate active radio equipment; leases are long, escalating, and routinely renewed.
Owning underlying land removes the largest opex line and blocks ground-lease squeeze; global scale spreads overhead.
Network effects in interconnection-rich data centers, though facing well-capitalized EQIX/DLR.
Dependencies
Customer concentration A large share of U.S. property revenue; their capex cadence and any further consolidation directly drives leasing and churn.
Decommissioning and financial fragility create a specific multi-year churn overhang.
Leveraged REIT reliant on refinancing; rate moves flow straight into cost of capital and AFFO/sh.
Macro / operational Africa/LatAm currency depreciation and diesel/grid costs pressure reported revenue and margins.
Customer (CoreSite) Data-center growth leans on sustained AI/hybrid-cloud interconnection demand.
Advantages
- Largest global independent tower footprint with irreplaceable siting
- High-margin colocation operating leverage
- Contracted, inflation-escalated recurring revenue
- AI-levered CoreSite data-center optionality peers lack
- Investment-grade balance sheet and deep liquidity
Weaknesses
- High leverage and rate sensitivity
- Customer concentration and consolidation churn
- Decelerating organic leasing vs its own history
- Emerging-market FX and political exposure
Bottlenecks
- Higher-for-longer interest rates constraining the cost of capital for a leveraged REIT
- Maturing U.S. carrier capex limiting new-lease volume
- Zoning/permitting and power availability slowing new tower and data-center builds
- FX translation capping reported international growth
- Churn roll-off timing (DISH/Sprint) suppressing headline AFFO/sh through 2026
Top signals & trends
Top signals
Management confidence in the normalized-growth reacceleration.
AI/interconnection demand is a durable secondary growth engine.
De-rating reflects rate/growth concerns but also re-rating optionality.
Elevated but managed and well-financed.
Multi-year revenue headwind masking underlying growth.
Trends
Directly powers CoreSite; potential tower-edge compute optionality.
Near-term U.S. leasing softer; long-term densification supports demand.
Pressures REIT cost of capital, multiple, and AFFO/sh.
Fewer tenants, decommissioning churn (Sprint, DISH).
Negative (long-tail) · Potential coverage substitute in rural/edge over time, not core dense-network threat near-term.
Exiting low-return geographies (e.g. India) to redeploy toward U.S. + data centers.
Ecosystem & competitor graph
Suppliers feed the company; customers pull from it. Line thickness shows the strength of each tie (supply-chain dependency, customer earnings contribution). Hover to isolate a tie.
Fabrication and site construction for new builds and augmentations.
Landowners under much of the portfolio; AMT buys land to control this cost line.
Diesel, batteries, grid power — material in Africa/LatAm site opex.
Nokia) Carrier RAN equipment mounted on towers; drives amendment activity.
Top-tier U.S. anchor tenant.
Major U.S. tenant.
Major U.S. tenant.
Tenant + churn risk from network buildout uncertainty.
Cloud/AI and enterprise interconnection customers of the data-center segment.
U.S.-only towers + fiber/small cells; closest domestic peer, restructuring its fiber business.
Pure-play tower REIT, U.S. + LatAm/Africa; higher-growth, higher-leverage smaller peer.
Largest European independent tower operator; competes for European assets/tenants.
Africa/LatAm-focused towers; direct emerging-market competitor.
Global interconnection data-center leader — competes with CoreSite leg.
Global data-center REIT; competitor to CoreSite in colo/interconnection.
India tower leader; context only after AMT's India exit — not a U.S. own/buy call.