SBA Communications (SBAC) Competitors

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) and American Tower (NYSE:AMT) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and media sentiment.

Is SBAC or AMT more profitable?

SBA Communications has a net margin of 31.19% compared to American Tower's net margin of 12.60%. American Tower's return on equity of 24.85% beat SBA Communications' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SBA Communications	31.19%	-16.83%	7.94%
American Tower	12.60%	24.85%	4.01%

Which has more volatility & risk, SBAC or AMT?

SBA Communications has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Tower has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SBAC or AMT a better dividend stock?

SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $4.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. American Tower pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. SBA Communications pays out 56.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Tower pays out 247.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SBA Communications has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years and American Tower has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Do analysts recommend SBAC or AMT?

SBA Communications presently has a consensus price target of $258.25, suggesting a potential upside of 15.73%. American Tower has a consensus price target of $243.88, suggesting a potential upside of 16.15%. Given American Tower's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe American Tower is more favorable than SBA Communications.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SBA Communications	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
American Tower	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, SBAC or AMT?

American Tower has higher revenue and earnings than SBA Communications. SBA Communications is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Tower, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SBA Communications	$2.72B	8.80	$749.54M	$7.87	28.35
American Tower	$10.13B	9.71	$2.26B	$2.75	76.35

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of SBAC or AMT?

97.3% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of American Tower shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of SBA Communications shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of American Tower shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to SBAC or AMT?

In the previous week, American Tower had 20 more articles in the media than SBA Communications. MarketBeat recorded 53 mentions for American Tower and 33 mentions for SBA Communications. SBA Communications' average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat American Tower's score of 1.13 indicating that SBA Communications is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SBA Communications	17 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Tower	43 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

American Tower beats SBA Communications on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.