BOSTON - American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) announced a robust start to the year with first-quarter earnings and revenue surpassing Wall Street expectations. The company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.79, significantly outperforming the analyst consensus of $1.75. Revenue also exceeded forecasts, reaching $2.83 billion against an anticipated $2.79 billion.
The strong quarterly performance saw shares of American Tower marginally increase by 0.29%. The earnings and revenue beat primarily drove this positive investor sentiment.
The company also provided an upbeat outlook for adjusted EBITDA, now expecting between $7.12 billion and $7.23 billion for the full year, an increase from the previously forecasted range of $7.08 billion to $7.19 billion.
Steven Vondran, American Tower’s CEO, attributed the strong quarter to continued demand across the company's asset platforms and highlighted the nearly 10% growth in Attributable AFFO per Share. "With visibility into accelerating activity across the U.S. and Europe, a continuation of elevated new business growth across many of our emerging markets, positive collection trends in India, and another strong quarter of signed leasing at CoreSite, our global business is positioned to deliver quality, recurring growth as we move through the year and over the long-term," Vondran said.
The company's property revenue saw a 3.3% increase to $2.804 billion, while net income attributable to AMT common stockholders soared by 173.2% to $917 million, reflecting the extension of the estimated useful lives of its tower assets and the estimated settlement dates for its asset retirement obligations.
American Tower's updated full-year 2024 outlook reflects improved customer collections in India, partially offset by the negative impacts of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. The company is raising the midpoints of its full-year 2024 outlook for property revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, AFFO attributable to AMT common stockholders, and AFFO attributable to AMT common stockholders per Share.
Investors responded positively to the earnings report, with the stock price ticking up slightly, indicating confidence in the company's ability to continue capitalizing on the growing demand for its portfolio of digital infrastructure assets throughout the 5G cycle.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.