American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Expectations

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.78 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from American Tower’s conference call:

• American Tower raised its 2026 property revenue and AFFO per share outlook for the third time this year, supported by resilient tower leasing, CoreSite outperformance, and share repurchases. Management maintained its adjusted EBITDA outlook.
• CoreSite data center revenue growth is now expected to reach approximately 16%, up from 15% previously, with strong demand from cloud, network, enterprise, and AI customers. Management cited robust leasing, rising interconnection activity, and mid-teens or better expected stabilized yields on incremental capital.
• Management expects 2026 to be the trough year for U.S. and Canada organic tower growth and AFFO per share growth, with acceleration in 2027 as DISH-related churn laps and carrier activity improves. Longer-term catalysts include 5G densification, new spectrum deployments, 6G, AI traffic, and potential satellite-terrestrial network builds.
• The company agreed to sell its Canada portfolio for approximately $202 million and repurchased $315 million of stock during the quarter, with an additional $68 million purchased after quarter-end. The board added $2 billion to the buyback authorization, leaving approximately $3.1 billion available, while leverage remained within the target range at 4.9 times.
• Network services revenue guidance was reduced to approximately $220 million because certain customer projects were delayed, creating a $15 million adjusted EBITDA headwind; management said the work is delayed rather than canceled. Latin America also remained pressured by elevated Brazil churn, while an AT&T Mexico dispute continues with no expected arbitration ruling until early 2027.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT opened at $182.18 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $175.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.12. American Tower has a 52 week low of $160.06 and a 52 week high of $202.50.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were paid a $1.79 dividend. This represents a $7.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th.

American Tower announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 27th that allows the company to repurchase $2 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

American Tower News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting American Tower this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) reached $2.87 per share, exceeding the $2.84 consensus estimate and rising from $2.78 a year earlier. Revenue of approximately $2.78 billion to $2.79 billion also topped expectations of $2.76 billion. American Tower Surpasses Q3 FFO and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management increased its 2026 property-revenue and AFFO guidance, reflecting steady global leasing demand and improved operating expectations. American Tower Raises Its 2026 Outlook for Third Time
• Positive Sentiment: CoreSite data-center revenue increased 16.3%, supported by strong artificial-intelligence and cloud-leasing activity. AMT now expects 2026 data-center revenue growth of 16% and is targeting 200 to 300 basis points of tower-margin expansion by 2030. American Tower Raises Data Center Revenue Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized a $2 billion share-repurchase program. Buybacks can support per-share results and signal that management views the stock as undervalued. American Tower Share Repurchase Program
• Neutral Sentiment: GAAP earnings per share of $1.64 matched consensus, while revenue rose 2.5% year over year—positive results, but not a major earnings surprise. American Tower Q3 Financial Results
• Negative Sentiment: Shares slipped about 2.4% following the release despite the guidance increase, suggesting elevated expectations, profit-taking, or disappointment that the earnings beat was modest. AMT also underperformed some REIT peers during the session. American Tower Stock Price Dips as Q3 Results Lift Guidance

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rajesh Kalathur purchased 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $177.00 per share, for a total transaction of $500,733.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 7,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,374,405. This trade represents a 57.31% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of American Tower from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $207.00 price target (down from $208.00) on shares of American Tower in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Mizuho set a $208.00 price target on shares of American Tower in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $198.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.90.

About American Tower

American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops wireless communications infrastructure. Its portfolio primarily includes communications towers, rooftop sites, distributed antenna systems and other infrastructure used by wireless carriers, broadcasters, governments and businesses to support voice, data and video communications.

The company leases space on its sites to multiple customers, allowing them to install antennas and related equipment without building and maintaining individual tower locations.