American Tower Raises 2026 Revenue and AFFO Outlooks on Data Center Growth

American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) raised its full-year 2026 property revenue and attributable AFFO-per-share outlooks after data center growth helped offset continued pressure from DISH-related churn. The company maintained its adjusted EBITDA forecast, with data center outperformance balanced by weaker U.S. services activity.

Third-quarter property revenue increased 4.5% year over year to $2.73 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose 0.9% to $1.83 billion, while the adjusted EBITDA cash margin narrowed to 66.3% from 66.8%. AFFO attributable to common stockholders increased 2.4% to $1.34 billion, and attributable AFFO per share advanced 3.2% to $2.87.

On an FX-neutral basis, property revenue grew 2.9%, adjusted EBITDA declined 0.5% and attributable AFFO per share increased 1.4%. Excluding net straight-line effects, cash FX-neutral adjusted EBITDA grew 2.3%. The presentation also showed about 5% cash FX-neutral growth in adjusted EBITDA and attributable AFFO per share when DISH churn was excluded.

GAAP net income declined to $781 million from $913 million in the year-earlier quarter. Interest expense increased to $366 million from $347 million, while income tax expense rose to $118 million from $37 million.

Data centers support growth as DISH churn weighs on towers

Organic tenant billings grew about 4% excluding DISH, reflecting continued 4G and 5G network investment. Including DISH-related churn, consolidated organic tenant billings growth was 1.1%.

Regional performance varied. Organic tenant billings were flat in the U.S. and Canada after removing DISH contributions, while Africa and Asia-Pacific grew 8.2% and Europe increased 4.2%. Latin America declined 2.1%.

Data center revenue rose 17.4% to $313 million from $267 million, with cash revenue growth of 16.3%. American Tower said demand associated with hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence use cases was supporting activity across its interconnection-focused data center assets.

Full-year revenue and AFFO outlooks raised

American Tower increased the midpoint of its 2026 property revenue outlook to $10.83 billion from $10.77 billion. The approximately 1% increase primarily reflects about $10 million of data center outperformance and $45 million from other items, including pass-through and straight-line revenue.

The updated midpoint implies property revenue growth of about 5%, or roughly 4% excluding foreign-exchange and non-cash straight-line effects. The outlook continues to assume organic tenant billings growth of about 1%, or approximately 4% excluding DISH churn. Expected data center growth is now about 16%, roughly 100 basis points above the prior plan.

The company maintained its adjusted EBITDA midpoint at $7.28 billion, representing approximately 2% year-over-year growth. About $10 million of data center outperformance and $5 million from other items are expected to be offset by roughly $15 million of lower U.S. services contribution. The current adjusted EBITDA range is $7.25 billion to $7.30 billion.

American Tower also raised the midpoint of its attributable AFFO-per-share outlook to $11.10 from $11.08, primarily because of share repurchases. The current range is $11.04 to $11.16, with the midpoint implying growth of about 3%, or roughly 2% excluding foreign-exchange effects and refinancing costs.

The AFFO-per-share outlook incorporates an approximately 4% headwind from DISH-related churn, about 3% from cash taxes and net interest, and roughly 1% from services.

Capital remains focused on developed markets

Net leverage remained at 4.9 times last-quarter annualized adjusted EBITDA at September 30, unchanged from June 30. Liquidity increased to $10.6 billion from $9.9 billion, while fixed-rate debt accounted for 94% of total borrowings, up from 93%. The weighted average remaining debt term was 5.1 years.

American Tower’s 2026 capital plan includes $1.6 billion of discretionary projects, $200 million of non-discretionary capital expenditure and $200 million for mergers and acquisitions. U.S. data centers account for 40% of discretionary project spending, followed by Europe at 25%, U.S. and Canadian towers at 20%, and emerging markets at 15%.

Subject to board approval, the company is targeting approximately $3.3 billion of common dividend declarations in 2026, implying mid-single-digit year-over-year growth per share. Management said its broader priorities include keeping net leverage at or below five times, focusing investment on developed markets and pursuing share repurchases, acquisitions or further deleveraging after funding dividends and capital expenditures.

American Tower’s outlook remains subject to changes in communications-infrastructure leasing demand, customer concentration and credit quality, foreign-exchange movements, inflation and interest rates. The company also identified customer consolidation, technology shifts, competition, leverage, data center operating risks, cybersecurity incidents and the execution of transformation initiatives as factors that could cause results to differ from its expectations.