American Tower Announces “Strong” Results for Q3

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In a statement yesterday following his company’s announcement of third quarter earnings, Jim Taiclet, American Tower’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “U.S Organic Tenant Billings Growth of 7.1 percent, coupled with solid underlying demand trends in our international markets, drove strong results in the third quarter. Our tenants are making significant investments in their networks as mobile data usage growth continues, and in the U.S., we are now seeing the early stages of 5G spending.”

Taiclet said AMT is focused on positioning the company to benefit from mobile network technology evolution over the long term through mutually beneficial master lease agreements, continued selective portfolio expansion and our innovation program. 

“We are confident that our strong balance sheet, growing dividend, emphasis on operational efficiency and comprehensive global footprint position us to deliver sustainable growth for years to come,” Taiclet said. 

American Tower is raising the midpoint of its full year 2019 outlook for property revenue, net income, Adjusted EBITDA and Consolidated AFFO by $180 million, $145 million, $180 million and $5 million, respectively, as compared to the company’s outlook issued on July 31, 2019. The increases in property revenue, net income and Adjusted EBITDA include approximately $167 million in additional straight-line revenue as a result of the company’s new MLA with AT&T. 

According to Nick Del Deo, analyst with MoffettNathanson, by the time Q3 rolls around, tower results for the full year have been pretty much locked-in, given base escalators. 

“One would expect that results for Q3 and Q4 would be largely consistent with guidance provided as of Q2. That was the case with Crown Castle’s results two weeks ago, and it was the case with SBA’s on Monday. American Tower’s most recent 2019 guidance seemed to imply a too-sharp deceleration in domestic growth in H2 2019 vs. H1 2019, and that turned out to be the case. Results overall were still stronger than expected, but were helped by a few one-time-ish good guys, and implied results for Q4 are consistent with our expectations. We’re a quarter away from getting 2020 guidance from American Tower, but it’s not too early to read the tea leaves and try to develop a slightly crisper view of the puts and takes that will affect next year’s outlook. Several items stand out that are worth a closer look, and they are partially informed by what we observe in today’s results,” said Del Deo.

November 1, 2019

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