Lamar Advertising Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Strong Q2 performance: Acquisition-adjusted revenue increased 6.1%, adjusted EBITDA rose 7.3%, and the EBITDA margin reached a company-record 49.2%. AFFO per share grew 8.1% to $2.40.
  • Positive Sentiment: Lamar raised its full-year AFFO-per-share guidance to $8.75–$8.90, implying approximately 7% growth at the midpoint, with Q3 momentum and bookings tracking well; management expects second-half revenue growth to remain near Q2 levels.
  • Positive Sentiment: Digital and national advertising led growth, with digital revenue up 15.4%, programmatic sales up more than 50%, and national plus programmatic revenue up nearly 16%. Political spending is running ahead of 2024 levels and is expected to remain a tailwind in Q4.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company plans to recommend increasing the quarterly dividend to $1.65 per share and indicated a year-end special dividend is likely, consistent with its policy of distributing 100% of taxable income.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Lamar expects more than $200 million of 2026 acquisition and easement spending and is preparing to close a smaller UPREIT transaction. Management cited strong liquidity and low leverage, although acquisition-adjusted expenses rose 5.1% in Q2 and are expected to grow around 4% for the full year.
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Earnings Conference Call
Lamar Advertising Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Excuse me, everyone. We now have Sean Reilly and Jay Johnson in conference. Please be aware that each of your line is in a listen-only mode. At the conclusion of the company's presentation, we will open the floor for questions. To ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad at any time. In the course of this discussion, Lamar may make forward-looking statements regarding the company, including statements about its future financial performance, strategic goals, plans, and objectives, including with respect to the amount and timing of any distributions to stockholders and the impacts and effects of general economic conditions, including inflationary pressures on the company's business, financial conditions, and results of operations.

Operator

All forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and contingencies, many of which are beyond Lamar's control and which may cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Lamar has identified important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in this call in the company's second quarter 2026 earnings release and its most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Lamar refers you to those documents. Lamar's second quarter 2026 earnings release, which contains information required by Regulation G regarding certain non-GAAP financial measures, was furnished to the SEC on a Form 8-K this morning and is available on the investor section of Lamar's website, www.lamar.com.

Operator

I would now like to turn the conference over to Sean Reilly. Mr. Reilly, you may begin.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Thank you, Katie. Good morning, all. Welcome to Lamar's Q2 2026 earnings call. Our business is in a terrific place right now. As our second quarter results demonstrate, advertisers clearly value our ability to connect them with their audiences and deliver messages that resonate. We are meeting our customers where they are, including through our growing programmatic sales channel. We're attracting new advertisers who appreciate Out of Home's knack for standing out in today's increasingly fragmented media landscape. The vibe out there is good. For the quarter, revenue and EBITDA growth once again exceeded our internal forecasts, with increases in revenue across all business offerings, billboards, transit, airports, and logos. All regions, and on both the local and national levels.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

On an acquisition-adjusted basis, consolidated revenue grew 6.1% in the second quarter, while EBITDA increased 7.3% with a record EBITDA margin of 49.2% in the quarter. It was our highest rate of revenue growth since Q2 2022 and our 21st consecutive quarter of revenue growth overall. The momentum has carried into Q3. Pacing suggests year-over-year revenue growth rates for the balance of 2026 are likely to be in the same range as Q2's. With that in mind, we have raised our guidance for full year AFFO to a range of $8.75-$8.90 per share. At the midpoint, that would represent AFFO per share growth of approximately 7% over 2025. Additionally, management will be recommending a $0.05 increase in our quarterly dividend to $1.65 per share.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Back to Q2. Categories of strength included service, political, retail, and financial, while real estate and amusements were slightly weaker. Service has been a reliable growth category for several years now, propelled by demand from attorneys. In the second quarter, we also saw a surge in business from technology service providers, including those within the AI space. Political spend, meanwhile, increased more than $5 million year-over-year in Q2 and is running well ahead of 2024 levels. It will continue to be a tailwind in Q4. About half the political dollars are being spent on our digital platform, which was the biggest driver of our overall growth in Q2. Our digital revenue increased 15.4% year-over-year and now constitutes a full third of our total billboard revenues. On a same board basis, digital billboard revenue increased 6.5% year-over-year.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Growth of more than 50% through our programmatic sales channel once again made it a bright spot, programmatic accounted for approximately 10% of digital billboard revenue in the quarter. Our national business was particularly strong, helped, of course, by the World Cup. On a consolidated basis, national and programmatic revenue increased nearly 16% in Q2, the sharpest increase since the COVID rebound in 2021. Local and regional revenue, meanwhile, increased 3.4%. We have been active on the M&A front. Through June 30, we had spent more than $100 million on nearly 30 billboard acquisitions, as well as on purchases of easements beneath our billboards. We have a healthy pipeline of billboard deals and easements under LOI and should easily exceed $200 million in cash spend for the full year.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Meanwhile, we expect to close our second UPREIT transaction in the coming weeks. All in all, I could not be more pleased with how the year is shaping up. I want to commend our team across Lamar Land for their efforts so far in 2026. We have been busy.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

With that, I will turn it over to Jay to walk you through some additional numbers.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

Thanks, Sean. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We had a strong second quarter and are extremely pleased with our results, which exceeded internal expectations and consensus estimates across revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO. The airport business continued to outperform with acquisition-adjusted revenue increasing 21.1% in Q2 versus last year, which was an acceleration from last quarter when airports grew a healthy 15.5%.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

Our billboard regions all experienced mid-single-digit top-line growth, led by the Southwest and Atlantic, which were up 7.7% and 6.5% respectively. The positive momentum continued in July, with revenue increasing 6%, outpacing our original budget. July's strong performance brings acquisition-adjusted revenue to 5.2% through the first seven months of the year. We're optimistic about our booking pace for the balance of the third quarter as we approach midterm elections. Acquisition-adjusted consolidated expenses increased 5.1% in the second quarter, which grew 150 basis points more than anticipated, driven by variable expenses tied to solid revenue growth in the second quarter.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

Adjusted EBITDA was $303.4 million compared to $278.4 million in 2025, an increase of 9% in the quarter and improving 7.3% on an acquisition-adjusted basis. This was the strongest growth we've seen since resurgence from the COVID-19 pandemic. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 110 basis points to 49.2%, the strongest margin in any quarter of the company's history. Adjusted funds from operations totaled $247.9 million in the second quarter compared to $225.3 million last year, an increase of 10.1%. Diluted AFFO per share grew 8.1% to $2.40 per share versus $2.22 in the second quarter of 2025. Local and regional sales grew for the 21st consecutive quarter and accounted for approximately 77% of billboard revenue in Q2. It has been over five years since the portfolio last experienced a year-over-year decline in local and regional sales, which was due to COVID.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

National sales performance was extremely robust and grew to represent 23% of our book, up from 18% last quarter. On the capital expenditure front, total spend for the quarter was $42.7 million, including $14.7 million of maintenance CapEx. For the full year, we anticipate total CapEx of approximately $186 million, with maintenance CapEx comprising $65 million. As for our balance sheet, we have a well-laddered debt maturity schedule with no maturities until the AR securitization in October 2027 and no senior notes maturity until February 2028. We will likely extend the securitization later this year, assuming market conditions remain favorable. The company currently has approximately $3.5 billion in total consolidated debt. Our weighted average interest rate is 4.5%, with a weighted average debt maturity of four years.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

As defined in our credit facility, we ended the quarter with total leverage of 2.9x net debt to EBITDA, which remains amongst the lowest levels ever for the company. Our secured debt leverage was 0.7x at quarter end. We are in compliance with both our total debt incurrence and secured debt maintenance test against covenants of 7x and 4.5x, respectively. For the full year, we expect total leverage to hover around 3x, with secured leverage coming in comfortably below 1x net debt to EBITDA. In addition, our latest 12-month interest coverage through June 30th was 7.1x adjusted EBITDA to cash interest, further demonstrating the strength of the company's balance sheet. As Sean mentioned, M&A has been active thus far in 2026.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

We continue to benefit from an investment capacity well over $1 billion, with the ability to deploy this capital while remaining at or below the high end of our target leverage range of 3.5x to 4x net debt to EBITDA. Our liquidity and access to capital both remain strong. At quarter end, we had $720 million in total liquidity, comprised of $68 million of cash on hand and $652 million available under our revolver. The AR securitization was fully drawn with $250 million outstanding. Subsequent to quarter end, the company repaid $55 million on the revolving credit facility, and we currently have $35 million outstanding. In this morning's release, we revised our full-year outlook and now expect diluted AFFO per share of $8.75 to $8.90, an increase of $0.22 at the midpoint.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

Cash interest in our guidance totals $155 million and assumes no change in short-term floating interest rates for the balance of the year. As I touched on earlier, maintenance CapEx is budgeted for $65 million in 2026, and cash taxes are projected to come in around $12 million, which is slightly higher than our original expectations. Finally, our dividend. We paid a cash dividend of $1.60 per share in each of the first and second quarters. Management's recommendation for the third quarter will be to increase the dividend to $1.65 per share. This recommendation is subject to board approval, and we will communicate the board's decision. For the full-year, we expect to distribute a regular dividend of at least $6.50 per share. The proposed $6.50 distribution results in a yield of 4.1% at yesterday's closing stock price.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

However, given our performance in Q1 and Q2 and expectations for the remainder of the year, it is likely that we will request approval for a special dividend at year-end. This is consistent with our practice in years past to ensure distribution of 100% of our taxable income. As a reminder, the company's dividend is based on taxable income subject to board approval. Our dividend policy remains to distribute 100% of our taxable income on an annual basis. We are pleased with an extremely strong start to the first-half of the year, as well as the momentum that has continued into the third quarter. We look forward to executing on our strategy in the third and fourth quarters.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

I will now turn the call back over to Sean.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Thanks, Jay. I'll touch on some familiar metrics and then open it up for questions. While all regions are doing well, I'll give a special shout-out to the Southwest and Atlantic regions, which are showing the best growth both in Q2 and year-to-date. As mentioned, Q2 same board digital growth was 6.5%, while total digital revenue growth was 15.4%. Digital now comprises 33.3% of total revenues. As has been the case for some time now, the bulk of our growth in static has come from rate. For example, in our marquee bulletin product, rate was up 3.7% in Q2. We ended Q2 with 5,730 digital units in operation, an increase of 177 units over year-end 2025.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

As mentioned, national programmatic had an exceptional Q2, increasing nearly 16%, and combined, comprised 22.7% of our total book of business, while local and regional made up 77.3%. On top categories of business, services continues to set records, up 15.4% in Q2. We also saw strong growth from retail, up 6.5%, financial, up 9.7%, gaming, up 9.2%, and building and construction, up 10.2%. Political also continues to set records, with political pacings for this year running significantly ahead of the 2024 cycle. 2024 ended up with approximately $29 million in total political. I'll be disappointed if we don't reach low to mid $30 millions this year.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Katie, I'll now open it up for questions.

Operator

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To leave the queue at any time, please press star two. Once again, that is star one if you would like to ask a question. We'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone the chance to queue. Our first question will come from Jonnathan Navarrete with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

Jonnathan Navarrete
Jonnathan Navarrete
VP of Equity Research at TD Cowen

Thank you. Good morning. Could you help us separate what is already booked for the second half from what still depends on shorter lead time demand, and whether the strength is broad-based across both the third and the fourth quarter? The second question I have is, perhaps I heard wrong, but did you say that you guys are weeks away from completing the second UPREIT transaction? Thank you.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

I'll hit the second question first. We expect to close our second UPREIT transaction sometime next week. We're pleased with the reception we're getting out there to sellers that see that as a very attractive way to really join forces with Lamar, stay in the business, but also in a very tax efficient way, monetize their billboard assets. We're encouraged by what we're seeing out there in terms of, again, receptivity for an UPREIT transaction.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

The first question was regarding bookings for the second half.

Jonnathan Navarrete
Jonnathan Navarrete
VP of Equity Research at TD Cowen

For the second half, what's already booked versus what still depends on the shorter lead time demand, and whether you see the strength pretty equal in the third and fourth quarter.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Sure. We're booked to goal. We're booked at about 85%-90%. We still have 10%-15% left to sell in the period, for the period, to hit all of our goals. Pacings are strong. We feel good about it.

Jonnathan Navarrete
Jonnathan Navarrete
VP of Equity Research at TD Cowen

Okay. Perhaps one more question is just, how do you guys think about we should do an UPREIT transaction versus, I don't know, other forms of financing a transaction? What's the thought process like, what's the strategy like going forward? Do you see this becoming a more common occurrence for Lamar, or is this more like a one-off kind of special occasion?

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

We view it as, number one, we're always going to do transactions that are accretive to AFFO per share. That's rule number one, right? Any time we're issuing shares, we want to make sure that we do so accretively. We view it as another arrow in our arsenal to do attractive accretive acquisitions. It's really up to the seller. Again, it's a very attractive way for sellers in a very tax efficient manner to sell their inventory, yet also hitch their wagon to Lamar and enjoy the upside that we've delivered for folks that do UPREIT transactions with us. We do see it happening more and more, and we're getting more and more inbound queries from folks in the billboard business that want to explore it.

Jonnathan Navarrete
Jonnathan Navarrete
VP of Equity Research at TD Cowen

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Alexey Philippov with J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.

Alexey Philippov
Alexey Philippov
VP of Equity Research at J.P. Morgan

Good morning. Thank you very much. Sean, your called out revenue was up almost 5% acquisition adjusted in April on the prior call, and the second result came in much stronger at 6%. Can you help us unpack the monthly cadence through May to June and what are you seeing so far in July and August? With the guidance upgrade, what's the underlying organic growth that you assume for the full year? I think you started with 3.6% in February, what's the number that you have in mind right now?

Alexey Philippov
Alexey Philippov
VP of Equity Research at J.P. Morgan

The final one on UPREIT, is it fair to expect a similar size to Verde? Do you include this deal in your new guidance? Thank you.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Last question first. No, this is a smaller UPREIT transaction. It's in the sort of mid 30s-ish. At the end of the day, we're encouraged to actually be able to roll out an UPREIT transaction with a smaller asset size. It means we can do more of them. I'm not going to guide to a specific pro forma growth number for the year, but it'll be north of 5-ish, right? If you just pencil out what we laid out there in terms of the rest of the year looking much like Q2, you'll get to that arithmetic. Same-board digital is a bright spot. I would encourage that you hold us accountable to same-board digital growing faster than the static base.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

We're deploying a lot of capital to grow that platform. If it's not showing same-board growth, then we have to question whether or not it's capital well spent. Right now we're extremely encouraged. We are putting up digitals as fast as we can.

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

Well, Alexey, in terms of the cadence on top line growth in Q2, we just saw an acceleration in each month. We were at 4.8% in April. We went to about 5.5% in May. June was 8% top line growth. That's how you saw the acceleration go from 5% to 6% for the quarter. It was an excellent quarter.

Alexey Philippov
Alexey Philippov
VP of Equity Research at J.P. Morgan

Great. If I may, to follow up on costs, I think acquisition-adjusted expenses were up 5% in second quarter, which is above your roughly 3% full year expense growth framework. Is there anything specific to this quarter, or we shall expect higher expense growth in the back half of the year?

Jay Johnson
Jay Johnson
EVP, CFO, and Treasurer at Lamar Advertising Company

No, Alexey, if you look at expense growth, we grew 5.1%. About 150 basis points of that was all tied to variable expenses like revenue share leases or sales commissions that were tied to solid top line growth. It was a positive from our perspective. For the full year, because we are outpacing the 3.5% that we saw at top line, we're going to be closer to the mid. You're probably going to see expense growth in the four range because of that.

Alexey Philippov
Alexey Philippov
VP of Equity Research at J.P. Morgan

Thanks so much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question will come from Cameron McVeigh with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Cameron McVeigh
Cameron McVeigh
Analyst at Morgan Stanley

Hi, guys. Thank you. Good morning. Just from a high level, Sean, I'm curious why you think you're seeing such strength recently, both at Lamar and in what we're seeing across the industry. Do you think you're taking share from other mediums? Is this the AI industry advertising more? Is it more political? I'm just curious your high-level thoughts on how you see it.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

I think there is something secular going on in terms of what's happening to our competitors out there in other local media. For example, what's going on clearly with radio, what's going on with print, and what is increasingly going on with local network affiliate television. Some of that is coming our way as they experience a drop in their audience. Some of their spend is coming our way. What we're also increasingly hearing from advertisers, and I think you're hearing this from our peers at Outfront and Clear Channel as well. Digital ad spend, while it's still the gorilla in the room, there is some disaffection with what's going on in the sort of what many people believe is the vast wasteland of what's going on with the panoply of digital product out there.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Some advertisers are coming to us in the out-of-home world because they know exactly what they're getting. There's no bot fraud. There's no chance that they're going to show up in a place that they don't want to be. They're increasingly getting comfortable with our ability to track results when they spend with us. It's all good out there for out-of-home. You heard this from Outfront yesterday. You saw it in the Clear Channel numbers. A rising tide is lifting all boats because we're feeling it as well.

Cameron McVeigh
Cameron McVeigh
Analyst at Morgan Stanley

Got it. No, that's great. Just secondly, Sean and Jay, I'd be curious what the latest is on your cost savings initiatives. Is this the year we might see the 48% margins?

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

We're gonna be close. I don't know that we're gonna get all the way to 48%, but we will set a record, and we should be at least a point better than last year. We've successfully gone through phase I of our enterprise software and upgrades, mostly back office and financial, and with some savings accompanying those efforts. We're somewhat hitting the pause button on phase II. We've had some wins that are gonna result in some cost savings in out years. As you're hearing from other companies, the sands are shifting around software deployment and options for functionality. We're evaluating those things, and what we're seeing out there are some more elegant and more cost-effective ways to get the functionality we're looking for.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

On some of those cost savings, it's a stay tuned. Maybe not a get to 48% this year, but quite possibly in 2027 or 2028. I would say probably.

Cameron McVeigh
Cameron McVeigh
Analyst at Morgan Stanley

Great. Thanks, Sean.

Operator

Thank you. Again, as a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one now. Our next question will come from Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Steven Cahall
Steven Cahall
Managing Director and Senior Analyst at Wells Fargo

Thanks. I was wondering if we could go one level deeper into that acceleration you saw through the second quarter. I know there was a lot of sports going on at that time, it sounds like your pacings continued to improve. Were there particular categories of strength that you see persisting into the back half and maybe even into 2027? I'm curious if AI, which has become obviously a much bigger sector, is showing up as a bigger advertiser as well. Just on your M&A plans, I was wondering how you're thinking about valuations in the marketplace right now. It seems like one of your competitors is gonna have a better balance sheet than it has historically. Sector multiples are a little higher. Just wondering, how competitive that market looks for valuations. Thanks.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Sure. I'll hit the second question first. We do basically three types of acquisitions. There are ones that are 100% fill-in in our existing footprint. We have, by far and away, the largest footprint nationwide of any operator. For many of these transactions that we do that are sort of cookie-cutter fill-in transactions, we're the highest and best buyer, and sometimes we're the only buyer, and we just sit down and meet with a seller and we get to yes. Some of them are actually not competitive processes. As the transactions get larger, more parties come to the table, and there is more of a competitive dynamic. Sometimes those transactions are in DMAs where we don't already have operations, and that can attract some attention. We just remain disciplined and we have our valuation metrics and we stick to them.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Regarding the other two publics, it's interesting. Their footprints are different. Oftentimes they're shopping in places we're not, just given their geographical profile. We run into them sometimes and sometimes we don't. I would describe it as we're frenemies when it comes to that. We're gonna win our fair share, as will they. Business, as I mentioned, services is a pretty big catch basin, and it's just growing really fast. We saw the advent of telecom and technology services, particularly in the AI space, augment that whole category of business. That's been a good thing to see.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Don't forget political. We've got nice political tailwinds that we're enjoying this year. It has been somewhat unusual to have a mid-cycle outpace a presidential cycle, but that's what's going on in 2026 over 2024. That, again, has certainly been one of the nice things to see this year.

Steven Cahall
Steven Cahall
Managing Director and Senior Analyst at Wells Fargo

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude our Q&A session. I would now like to turn the meeting back to Sean Reilly for any closing remarks.

Sean Reilly
Sean Reilly
CEO and President at Lamar Advertising Company

Well, thank you all for listening and we look forward to catching up again next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. That brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Sean Reilly
      Sean Reilly
      CEO and President
    • Jay Johnson
      Jay Johnson
      EVP, CFO, and Treasurer
Analysts