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 contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

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

97.4% of SBA Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of American Tower shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of SBA Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of American Tower shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SBAC or AMT more profitable?

SBA Communications has a net margin of 29.29% compared to American Tower's net margin of 17.34%. American Tower's return on equity of 30.20% beat SBA Communications' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SBA Communications	29.29%	-15.30%	7.52%
American Tower	17.34%	30.20%	4.82%

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 1.9%. American Tower pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. SBA Communications pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Tower pays out 174.8% 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 increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and American Tower has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate SBAC or AMT?

SBA Communications currently has a consensus target price of $255.53, suggesting a potential upside of 9.77%. American Tower has a consensus target price of $240.88, suggesting a potential upside of 8.93%. Given SBA Communications' higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than American Tower.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SBA Communications	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
American Tower	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.11

Does the media refer more to SBAC or AMT?

In the previous week, American Tower had 31 more articles in the media than SBA Communications. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for American Tower and 7 mentions for SBA Communications. SBA Communications' average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat American Tower's score of 1.50 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	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
American Tower	33 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, SBAC or AMT?

SBA Communications has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Tower has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger 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	$2.68B	9.33	$749.54M	$7.29	31.93
American Tower	$10.18B	10.17	$2.26B	$3.89	56.85

Summary

American Tower beats SBA Communications on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.