American Tower (NYSE: AMT) reported earnings on May 3. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), American Tower beat expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased significantly and GAAP earnings per share expanded significantly.

Gross margins dropped, operating margins increased, net margins improved.

Revenue details
 American Tower chalked up revenue of $696.5 million. The 19 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected a top line of $671.4 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 24% higher than the prior-year quarter's $562.7 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.56. The 20 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.41 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.56 for Q1 were 143% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.23 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 75.5%, 50 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 39.4%, 60 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 31.8%, 1,550 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $695.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.41.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.81 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.71.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 838 members out of 923 rating the stock outperform, and 86 members rating it underperform. Among 169 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 156 give American Tower a green thumbs-up, and 13 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on American Tower is buy, with an average price target of $71.14.