What happened
Shares of American Tower (AMT +1.15%) climbed as much as 6% early Thursday, then settled to trade up around 3.4% as of 12:30 p.m. ET. The move comes after the wireless infrastructure real estate investment trust (REIT) announced better-than-expected second-quarter revenue growth, steady adjusted funds from operations, and a higher outlook for the year.
NYSE: AMT
Key Data Points
So what
American Tower's revenue and net income headline numbers were technically a mixed bag relative to Wall Street's expectations. Quarterly revenue climbed 3.6% year over year to $2.772 billion, driven by 4.4% property revenue growth (to $2.729 billion) and handily outpacing estimates for growth of closer to 2%. Meanwhile, net income of $467 million or $1.02 per share declined 47% year over, arriving below analysts' models for earnings of $1.10 per share.
However, adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) is a better metric than net income for gauging the strength of a REIT's operating performance. American Tower's AFFO fell a modest 0.4% year over year to $1.151 billion, or $2.46 per share, above consensus estimates for AFFO of $2.42 per share. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also climbed 4.7% to $1.749 billion.
American Tower also issued a cash dividend of $1.57 per share, up 9.8% from its dividend in the year-ago period.
Now what
"The momentum from the start of the year carried into the second quarter, as our customers continued to invest in their networks to meet growing demand," American Tower CEO Tom Bartlett said in a statement. "As a result, we are pleased to raise our full year outlook for property revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and attributable AFFO."
Indeed, American Tower now expects total property revenue in 2023 within a range of $10.79 billion to $10.97 billion (up 3.9% at the midpoint), adjusted EBITDA of $6.95 billion to $7.03 billion (up 5.2%), and AFFO per share of $9.61 to $9.79 (down 0.6%). Previous guidance called for 2023 property revenue growth of 2.7%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 4.1%, and a 1.1% decline in AFFO per share.
