AMERICAN TOWER CORP /MA/ (AMT)·Q4 2025 Earnings Summary
American Tower Beats Q4 as AFFO/Share Surges 13%, Data Centers Drive Growth
February 24, 2026 · by Fintool AI Agent
American Tower delivered a solid Q4 2025, beating revenue and EBITDA estimates while posting 13.4% AFFO/share growth. The tower REIT benefited from robust demand across its international markets and expanding data center business, though reported EPS declined YoY due to unfavorable foreign currency swings. Management guided FY 2026 for modest AFFO growth while highlighting strong secular tailwinds from 5G, mobile data consumption, and AI workloads.
Did American Tower Beat Earnings?
Yes. American Tower beat on both revenue and EBITDA, with AFFO/share showing impressive double-digit growth:
Reported net income declined 32% YoY to $837M, but this was entirely due to foreign currency effects—Q4 2024 included $540M in FX gains vs. only $2M in Q4 2025. Excluding these swings, underlying performance was strong:
- Total property revenue grew 7.6% YoY to $2,673M
- Adjusted EBITDA grew 7.5% YoY to $1,819M
- AFFO/share grew 13.4% YoY to $2.63
- Organic Tenant Billings grew 5.9% (5.6% for full year)
Ask Fintool AI AgentWhat Did Management Guide?
American Tower provided FY 2026 guidance that implies steady, modest growth after a strong FY 2025:
The flat EBITDA guidance includes an estimated negative impact of over 2% from decreasing non-cash straight-line revenue recognition.
2026 Organic Tenant Billings Growth by Region:
Management expects ~13% data center revenue growth in 2026 (second consecutive year of double-digit growth), driven by hybrid cloud and AI-related demand tailwinds.
CEO Steven Vondran emphasized the secular demand drivers: "Leasing demand across our global tower portfolio and data center business remains robust, underpinned by sustained growth in mobile data consumption, continued 5G deployment, and increasing hybrid-cloud and AI-related workloads."
DISH Default Impact: Management removed 100% of DISH revenue from guidance starting January 1, 2026, resulting in ~4% churn in U.S. & Canada. DISH represented ~$200M annually through 2035-2036. CEO Vondran stated: "We have de-risked our business going forward by taking it out of the numbers. We fully plan to fight in the litigation... but that would all be incremental upside to the current guidance."
What Are the 2026 Strategic Priorities?
Management outlined three strategic priorities for 2026 and beyond:
1. Revenue Growth
- Durable ~4% OTBG globally driven by robust 4G and 5G network investments
- Double-digit revenue growth in data centers for second consecutive year
- Capture tailwinds from mobile data consumption, fixed wireless, and AI use cases
2. Operational Efficiency
- Reduce costs through globalization, standardization, and automation
- Target 200-300 basis points of tower Adjusted EBITDA cash margin expansion by 2030
- Invest in AI to further accelerate margin upside
3. Capital Allocation
- Prioritize developed markets to optimize asset portfolio and earnings quality
- Maintain strong balance sheet with net leverage at or below 5x
- After funding ~$3.3B dividend and capex plan, opportunistically repurchase shares, pursue M&A, or further de-lever
How Did the Stock React?
AMT shares rose ~1.5% following the earnings release, trading around $190.05. The stock is up roughly 14% from its 52-week low of $166.88 but remains ~19% below its 52-week high of $234.33.*
The positive reaction reflects:
- Revenue and EBITDA beats vs. consensus
- Strong AFFO/share growth trajectory
- Return to target leverage range
- Continued execution on capital allocation
*Values retrieved from S&P Global
What Changed From Last Quarter?
Several notable developments compared to Q3 2025:
Improved:
- Net leverage hit 4.9x (down from 5.1x in Q3), returning to management's target range
- Cash from operations increased 19% YoY to $1,428M
- International growth accelerated — Africa & APAC revenue grew 23.6% YoY vs. 17.8% in prior quarter
Unchanged:
- Organic Tenant Billings growth remained steady at 5-6%
- EBITDA margin held at 66-67%
- U.S. & Canada growth remained muted at ~1-2% YoY
Strategic Actions:
- Repurchased ~$365M of stock in Q4 (~2M shares), with ~$1.6B remaining under the buyback program
- Issued $850M of 4.700% senior notes due 2032
- Dividend increased 4.9% YoY to $1.70/share quarterly
Which Segments Drove Growth?
International markets and data centers were the growth engines:
Key observations:
- Africa & APAC (+24%) continues to lead organic growth with strong new site additions and colocations
- Data Centers (+19%) benefiting from AI workloads and hybrid-cloud demand
- Europe (+16%) driven by new site builds and favorable FX
- U.S. & Canada grew just 1.6%, but this masks 5.6% organic tenant billings growth offset by straight-line revenue timing
How Have Tower Margins Improved?
American Tower has delivered significant margin expansion in its tower business over the past three years:
Management targets an additional 200-300 basis points of tower Adjusted EBITDA cash margin expansion by 2030, driven by:
- Globalization and standardization of operations
- Automation initiatives
- AI investments to accelerate margin upside
For FY 2026, management expects flat tower cash margins YoY while absorbing ~60 bps of DISH churn pressure—implying underlying margin expansion is offsetting the headwind.
Ask Fintool AI AgentWhat Did Management Say About AI and Data Centers?
CoreSite's data center business continues to be a growth engine, with management providing substantial color on AI demand and expansion plans:
AI Inferencing Demand: "Inferencing is one of our leading new use cases that's coming in, and quite frankly, we have more demand for it than we can meet with our supply. We're able to curate our mix of inferencing partners... we're only choosing the best names in the space." — CEO Steven Vondran
Pricing Power: Data center mark-to-market pricing continues exceeding historical norms due to supply/demand imbalance. Management confirmed mid-teens or better stabilized yields on new deployments, even while absorbing inflation and tariff pressures.
Geographic Expansion: American Tower has purchased land for potential new data center campuses, including sites in the Bay Area. Management is exploring Dallas-Fort Worth as a potential new market entry. "To maximize the value of CoreSite... it's both investing in our current campuses and expanding those, and looking at what other markets our customers would like for us to be in." Timeline from groundbreaking to revenue: approximately 2-3 years.
AI's Mobile Network Impact: Management expects AI applications—particularly video uploading and streaming—to eventually require network architecture changes, potentially shifting upload capacity from ~10% to north of 20%. "It's really video upstreaming, video manipulation, as well as things like the Meta glasses that are live streaming... those types of applications we think are gonna really result in some network traffic over time."
Balance Sheet and Capital Allocation
American Tower's financial position strengthened in Q4:
Capital allocation priorities:
- Dividends: $792.9M paid in Q4 ($3.18B for FY 2025), +4.9% YoY growth
- Buybacks: ~$365M in Q4, ~$53M additional through Feb 17, 2026
- CapEx: $592M in Q4 ($1.7B for FY 2025), expecting $1.8-$1.9B in FY 2026
Full Year 2025 Performance
American Tower delivered solid FY 2025 results, with AFFO/share (as adjusted) growing 8%:
The "as adjusted" AFFO metric removes the impact of the India divestiture (ATC TIPL) completed in September 2024, providing a cleaner comparison. The FX-neutral figures exclude ~$27M of favorable FX impact on revenue and ~$9M on EBITDA.
Full Year 2025 Highlights:
- Mid-single-digit Organic Tenant Billings Growth (5.6%)
- ~14% Data Center revenue growth
- ~75% U.S. Services revenue growth
- Strong top-line conversion with ~20 bps margin expansion
- Disciplined management of below-the-line costs
Q&A Highlights
The earnings call Q&A surfaced several key themes:
On U.S. Leasing Trends: Colocation and amendment contribution is expected at ~2.5% for 2026, consistent with 2025 (excluding DISH). Management sees a "slightly higher number in the first half of the year" with a modest deceleration in H2. New colocations are rising as carriers complete initial 5G overlays and shift toward densification.
On Europe Growth: Record new tower builds planned in 2026 with over 700 new sites, primarily in Germany, Spain, and France. "Europe in general is behind in deploying 5G compared to the U.S.... there's a lot more runway to continue to deploy 5G there."
On Brazil/LATAM Churn: The 2026 churn spike is a timing shift—pulling forward 2027 churn while pushing back some 2025 delays. Management expects organic growth to accelerate starting 2027, one year earlier than previously expected. "We are encouraged by the prospects of an earlier-than-expected market repair in Brazil."
On Satellite Competition: CEO Vondran dismissed satellite as a competitive threat: "Towers will always be the cheapest and best way of deploying the level of content, the volume of mobile data that consumers demand. The satellites just can't compete with that." American Tower maintains a board seat at AST SpaceMobile after selling half its stake (proceeds used for buybacks), viewing 6G as likely integrating satellites as a complement to terrestrial networks.
On M&A: The public/private valuation gap continues keeping American Tower on the sidelines. "There's a lot of portfolios that are talked about right now. There's not a lot of active deals that we're seeing... that delta has made it hard for us to participate." Focus remains on developed markets—management explicitly stated no emerging market M&A should be expected.
On Margin Expansion: The 200-300 bps target by 2030 is off a base that is "already industry leading." AI could provide incremental upside beyond current targets, though it's too early to quantify. "If there's a chance to do something else with AI, and we think there is, once we've been able to figure out exactly what those numbers look like, we'll share it."
Ask Fintool AI AgentKey Risks and Concerns
Management flagged several risks in the forward-looking statements:
- Customer concentration: A substantial portion of revenue comes from a small number of wireless carriers
- Currency exposure: The majority of international revenue is in local currencies; FY 2025 saw $809M in FX losses
- Technology disruption: New technologies could reduce demand for traditional tower infrastructure
- Data center execution: Different operational risks vs. tower business
- U.S. growth deceleration: Domestic organic growth remains muted at ~5-6%
Bottom Line
American Tower delivered a clean beat in Q4 2025, with AFFO/share growth of 13% demonstrating the company's operational momentum. Key takeaways from the earnings call:
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DISH De-Risked: Management's decision to remove DISH entirely from guidance provides clarity—any future recovery is upside. The ~$200M/year exposure through 2035 represents meaningful litigation optionality.
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Data Center Momentum: CoreSite's AI inferencing demand exceeds supply, pricing power remains strong, and geographic expansion is underway. This segment is increasingly important to the growth story.
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International Strength: Europe's record new build pipeline (700+ sites) and Africa's 8.5% organic growth outlook provide durable tailwinds as U.S. growth moderates.
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Margin Upside: The 200-300 bps expansion target by 2030 may prove conservative if AI initiatives deliver—management explicitly flagged additional upside potential.
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Capital Discipline: With leverage at 4.9x and $1.6B in buyback authorization, American Tower has flexibility to navigate M&A opportunities if valuations converge.
FY 2026 guidance implies modest ~1% AFFO/share growth as the company absorbs DISH churn and straight-line revenue headwinds. However, the underlying 4-5% organic tenant billings growth (ex-DISH), strong data center momentum, and secular demand from 5G/AI suggest the multi-year trajectory remains intact.
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