American Tower (NYSE:AMT) raised its full-year 2026 outlook for the second time this year after reporting second-quarter growth in tower leasing and record leasing activity at its CoreSite data center business.
President and CEO Steve Vondran said the company’s performance was supported by “robust leasing demand” across its global tower portfolio, continued operational discipline and growing demand for interconnected data center capacity. He said the company remains focused on durable revenue growth, improved operating efficiency and disciplined capital allocation.
Second-quarter results
Chief Financial Officer Rod Smith said consolidated property revenue increased more than 5% year over year in the second quarter, excluding non-cash straight-line revenue and foreign-exchange effects. On a cash, foreign-exchange-neutral basis and excluding one-time churn related to DISH, property revenue grew more than 7%.
Organic tenant billings growth was nearly 2%, or about 4% excluding the DISH-related churn. Data center cash revenue grew approximately 12%.
Adjusted EBITDA increased more than 3% excluding net straight-line revenue and foreign-exchange impacts. Excluding the one-time DISH churn, adjusted EBITDA increased more than 6% on a cash, foreign-exchange-neutral basis.
Cash adjusted EBITDA margin declined about 40 basis points from a year earlier, primarily because of DISH-related churn and the timing of selling, general and administrative expenses. Excluding the DISH impact, cash adjusted EBITDA margin expanded approximately 30 basis points.
Attributable AFFO per share increased about 1% excluding foreign-exchange impacts. Excluding DISH-related churn and refinancing costs, attributable AFFO per share rose more than 5% on an FX-neutral basis, Smith said.
- U.S. and Canada organic growth was nearly 1%, or roughly 5% excluding DISH churn.
- Africa and APAC organic growth was nearly 11%, though the company expects churn in those regions to be weighted toward the second half of the year.
- Europe organic growth was approximately 4%.
- Latin America organic growth declined more than 2%, reflecting elevated churn in Brazil.
- CoreSite data center property revenue increased approximately 12%, excluding non-cash straight-line revenue.
Smith said CoreSite added more new leasing business during the quarter than it did in all of 2021, marking its fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth.
Higher 2026 outlook
American Tower increased its property-revenue outlook by $110 million at the midpoint, a 1% increase from its prior forecast. The revised outlook implies nearly 4% year-over-year growth excluding non-cash straight-line revenue and currency effects, or about 6% growth on a cash, FX-neutral basis after adjusting for one-time DISH churn.
The company said the property-revenue increase reflects about $35 million in foreign-exchange tailwinds, $25 million of data center outperformance and $65 million from other items including pass-through and straight-line revenue. Those factors were partly offset by roughly $15 million from the sale of its Philippines and Bangladesh portfolios.
American Tower reiterated its expectation for approximately 1% organic tenant billings growth in 2026, or about 4% excluding DISH churn. It lifted its data center growth expectation to approximately 15% from its previous forecast of 13%.
The company also raised its adjusted EBITDA outlook by $45 million at the midpoint and increased attributable AFFO guidance by $0.09 per share. Smith said higher interest rates are now expected to create an approximately 150-basis-point headwind to AFFO per share growth this year, compared with a prior estimate of roughly 100 basis points.
Smith described 2026 as a likely trough year for AFFO per share growth, citing DISH churn, refinancing costs and a lower contribution from the services business. He said the company expects growth to improve in 2027 as those pressures ease.
Towers, spectrum and AI demand
Vondran said American Tower sees several potential demand catalysts for its tower business: the capacity-focused phase of 5G deployments, the anticipated release of new spectrum, the eventual move to 6G and the expansion of AI-related applications.
The company expects about 800 MHz of new mobile spectrum to become available over the next several years, beginning with Upper C-band spectrum in 2027. Vondran said new spectrum deployments historically have generated equipment installations and lease amendments.
He also said American Tower is seeing more new co-location activity in its U.S. pipeline as carriers move from early 5G coverage deployments toward network quality and capacity investments. Smith said the company expects new business to contribute about 250 basis points to U.S. organic tenant billings growth in 2026, in addition to roughly 3% contractual escalators and churn of about 1% to 2% excluding DISH and Sprint-related effects.
Vondran said AI applications could increase the need for capacity, lower latency and network densification. He cited Ericsson data indicating AI-enabled applications are contributing to uplink traffic growth that in some cases exceeds downlink growth by more than 50%.
CoreSite expansion and capital allocation
CoreSite remains American Tower’s fastest-growing business segment, according to Vondran. He said nine of the top 10 AI companies and three of the top five neoclouds are deployed in CoreSite facilities. The company has expanded CoreSite’s megawatts in service by 1.5 times since acquiring the business in 2021 and has a development pipeline that could nearly triple capacity from current levels.
During the question-and-answer session, Vondran said data center outperformance was broad-based, driven by traditional and retail customers, hybrid multicloud deployments, AI use cases, mark-to-market activity and increased interconnection activity. He said American Tower could pursue additional CoreSite expansion in existing campuses, new markets or selective acquisitions, while remaining focused on highly interconnected facilities rather than hyperscale or undifferentiated colocation assets.
The company ended the quarter with leverage of 4.9 times, within its target range of three to five times. It completed the sale of its Philippines and Bangladesh operations during the quarter, exiting the APAC region. Management said the transaction is expected to be neutral to AFFO per share growth while increasing the focus on developed markets and higher-quality earnings streams.
For 2026, American Tower expects to direct about 85% of discretionary capital spending toward developed-market platforms, including more than $700 million for data center capacity development, approximately $370 million for global tower construction and about $210 million for land purchases beneath towers. The company also said it has spent more than $230 million year to date on tower and data center land acquisitions and more than $200 million on share repurchases.
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.
