American Tower NYSE: AMT reported what executives called a strong start to 2026, prompting the company to raise its full-year outlook amid favorable foreign exchange and straight-line revenue dynamics. On the company’s first-quarter earnings call, President and CEO Steve Vondran said performance in the early part of the year, “combined with favorable FX and straight line dynamics, led us to raise our full-year outlook.”
Vondran framed the quarter against what he described as strengthening secular demand drivers for digital infrastructure, including rising wireless data usage, accelerating cloud adoption, and expanding AI-driven workloads. He added that the company has “strengthened our balance sheet, refined our portfolio, shifted our capital toward developed markets, and aligned our revenue base with the highest quality carriers in each of our markets,” which he said has put American Tower on its “strongest strategic footing in at least a decade.”
Management outlines 2026 priorities and long-term demand drivers
Vondran reiterated three strategic priorities for 2026: durable revenue growth, operational efficiency, and disciplined capital allocation. For revenue, he highlighted an expectation of approximately 4% organic tenant billings growth across the global tower portfolio when adjusting for one-time DISH-related impacts, alongside double-digit growth from the data center business.
In discussing the wireless outlook, Vondran pointed to continued 5G adoption and fixed wireless access, and said U.S. analysts project mobile data traffic will double over the next five years. He also cited potential incremental upside from 6G and AI-enabled applications, arguing that the engineering direction of 6G suggests “denser networks, more distributed compute, and materially higher throughput requirements.”
Internationally, he said mobile data traffic is expected to more than double in Europe by the end of the decade and nearly triple in the company’s emerging markets, which management expects to grow faster than the U.S. over the long term.
CoreSite demand, interconnection activity “inflection,” and edge computing
Vondran and management emphasized accelerating momentum at CoreSite, American Tower’s data center and interconnection platform. Vondran said the quarter marked “a clear inflection in interconnection activity,” which he argued improves platform profitability and strengthens customer relationships. He described CoreSite as differentiated versus “traditional single-tenant hyperscale data center models” due to its high-margin interconnection revenue stream and ecosystem positioning.
During Q&A, Vondran addressed questions on edge computing, saying the company continues to pursue projects and has used a Raleigh facility “as a little bit of a playground” for experimentation. He said carriers are increasingly “talking about the edge” and engaging with chipmakers and cloud companies, adding that American Tower views edge as a “material opportunity” but declined to predict timing.
Vondran also fielded questions about whether CoreSite could be monetized separately given high data center multiples, saying the business is “a strategically important asset” and that he believes it “has a long-term place in our portfolio.” He described CoreSite less as a traditional data center company and more as an “interconnection hub,” adding that the company’s ecosystem approach is designed to keep the platform “very sticky” across cycles.
On capacity expansion, Vondran said CoreSite has had more construction over the past couple of years than at any time in its history, and that the team has become “more aggressive” in buying land and exploring new market entries, while also considering retrofits to support higher-density applications where power is available. CFO Rod Smith added that the company increased “held for development” capacity by about 200 megawatts, following roughly 280 megawatts last year, citing power procurement and land banking to support further campus expansion.
Asked about rising community opposition and potential delays, Vondran said the company is seeing more “NIMBYism,” likening it to early tower permitting challenges. He said American Tower is leveraging its government affairs and zoning/permitting teams to support CoreSite, and is working with industry partners. He added that so far it has not forced the company to scrap projects or caused “any significant delays.”
First-quarter results: towers, DISH impacts, and segment trends
Smith said first-quarter consolidated property revenue grew approximately 3% year over year excluding non-cash straight-line revenue and FX impacts, and about 5% on a cash FX-neutral basis when normalized for one-time DISH churn. Organic tenant billings growth was about 2% (or about 4% excluding DISH churn), complemented by approximately 17% data center cash revenue growth.
Adjusted EBITDA grew 1% excluding net straight-line and FX impacts, or about 4% on a normalized cash FX-neutral basis. Smith said cash-adjusted EBITDA margins declined about 110 basis points year over year, primarily due to DISH-related churn, SG&A timing, and higher fuel prices in Africa.
Attributable AFFO per share declined about 1% excluding FX impacts, but Smith said that on an FX-neutral basis—normalized for one-time DISH churn and excluding refinancing costs—AFFO per share grew approximately 4%.
By region, Smith said organic growth in the U.S. and Canada was about 1%, or about 5% excluding DISH churn. Africa and APAC organic growth was approximately 11%, Europe about 4%, and Latin America declined about 2% due to elevated churn in Brazil. Smith said the higher churn in 2026 reflects delayed churn initially expected in 2025 and accelerated churn initially expected in 2027, but management expressed encouragement about “an earlier-than-expected market repair in Brazil” and an expected acceleration in 2027.
Guidance raised on FX and straight-line; capital allocation includes buybacks
American Tower raised guidance across key financial metrics, which Smith said was “primarily due to incremental FX and straight-line tailwinds.” At the midpoint, property revenue guidance increased by about $145 million (roughly 1%), driven by about $110 million of FX tailwinds and about $35 million of accelerated non-cash straight-line revenue in Latin America related to Oi. The revised outlook implies about 3% year-over-year growth excluding non-cash straight-line revenue and FX impacts, and about 5% growth on a normalized cash FX-neutral basis excluding one-time DISH churn.
Adjusted EBITDA guidance was raised by about $105 million at the midpoint (about 1%), and attributable AFFO guidance increased by $0.12 per share (about 1%) to a revised outlook Smith referenced as about $10.99 on slide 11. Smith said the revised outlook implies approximately 2% year-over-year growth, while normalized for one-time DISH churn and excluding refinancing costs, AFFO per share growth implies about 5% on an FX-neutral basis.
Smith noted that services business growth and debt refinancings are each expected to be an approximately 100 basis point headwind to AFFO per share growth in 2026. He also said the company expects AFFO per share growth on an FX-neutral basis to be faster in the back half of the year due to the timing of maintenance capital and cash taxes.
Discussing longer-term expectations, Smith said 2026 is “in line with our longer-term view for AFFO per share growth,” which he characterized as “mid-single digits to better than mid-single digits” before considering FX and interest rate impacts. He walked through the bridge of 2026 headwinds and tailwinds, including what he described as 400 basis points of headwind from DISH churn and about 200 basis points of FX tailwind, and reiterated an expectation for “mid to upper single digit AFFO and AFFO per share growth rate over time.”
On the balance sheet, Smith said American Tower has the “lowest leverage and the highest credit rating across our peer group,” providing flexibility. He said the company expects to deploy about 85% of discretionary capital in developed markets platforms in 2026, including more than $700 million in “success-based” data center investments, purchases of land under tower sites, and continued acceleration in European new builds with “over 700 new sites planned.”
American Tower also continued repurchasing shares. Smith said the company bought back approximately $184 million of stock in the first quarter plus another $19 million through April 21, bringing total repurchases since initiating buybacks in the fourth quarter to more than $565 million.
In Q&A, Vondran emphasized that the capital allocation approach remains disciplined, and that the company is not looking to “overpay for anything” in M&A. He said the company reviews many opportunities across towers and data centers, but has not found compelling deals recently that meet its criteria, adding that the U.S. remains a primary focus for scale opportunities “subject to the right terms and conditions and economics.” He also reiterated that emerging markets should remain a smaller portion of the overall portfolio due to volatility, even as management expects those markets to deliver outsized growth over time.
On DISH-related litigation, Vondran declined to comment on ongoing proceedings but reiterated management’s view that the contract is enforceable and said American Tower has “completely de-risked our earnings and our guidance by taking DISH out of our numbers,” calling any recovery “incremental upside.”
Separately, Vondran addressed questions about satellite connectivity, saying the company views satellites as complementary to terrestrial networks. He said potential disruption would be limited to a “handful of towers” in ultra-rural areas, adding, “I don’t lose a second sleep worried about satellites,” and argued that ubiquitous coverage could support new carrier capabilities over time.
About American Tower NYSE: AMT
American Tower NYSE: AMT is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and develops wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure. The company's core business is leasing space on communications sites — including towers, rooftops and other structures — to wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and enterprise customers. Its business model centers on long-term site leases and contracts that provide recurring revenue tied to the footprint and density of wireless networks.
Beyond traditional tower assets, American Tower offers a range of infrastructure and network services to support mobile, broadband and broadcast connectivity.
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