SBA Communications (SBAC) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AMT or SBAC?

92.7% of American Tower shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.4% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of American Tower shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of SBA Communications shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer AMT or SBAC?

American Tower presently has a consensus price target of $240.88, suggesting a potential upside of 8.99%. SBA Communications has a consensus price target of $255.53, suggesting a potential upside of 9.69%. Given SBA Communications' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than American Tower.

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

Is AMT or SBAC 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
American Tower	17.34%	30.20%	4.82%
SBA Communications	29.29%	-15.30%	7.52%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, AMT or SBAC?

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
American Tower	$10.13B	10.22	$2.26B	$3.89	56.81
SBA Communications	$2.68B	9.34	$749.54M	$7.29	31.96

Is AMT or SBAC a better dividend stock?

American Tower pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $4.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. 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 pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Tower has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and SBA Communications has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to AMT or SBAC?

In the previous week, American Tower had 28 more articles in the media than SBA Communications. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for American Tower and 10 mentions for SBA Communications. American Tower's average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat SBA Communications' score of 1.40 indicating that American Tower is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Tower	34 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SBA Communications	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, AMT or SBAC?

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

Summary

American Tower beats SBA Communications on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.