Cell tower giant American Tower Corp. on Tuesday reported financial results that largely exceeded analysts’ expectations, but also reduced its full-year outlook.
The Boston-based company disclosed $1.71 billion in property revenue, $1.74 billion in overall revenue and adjusted earnings of $1.06 billion in the first quarter of the year, which roughly matched expectations from Wells Fargo despite the impact of industry consolidation in India.
Adjusted funds from operations and service revenues, meanwhile, beat the firm’s forecasts, Wells Fargo Senior Analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote in a note.
American Tower said capital expenditures in the quarter totaled $206 million, with $36 million for non-discretionary capital improvements and corporate capital expenditures.
“Significant network investment initiatives announced by the major U.S. wireless carriers, coupled with aggressive network deployments in key markets such as Mexico and Brazil, enabled us to drive consolidated AFFO per share growth of nearly 10 percent in the first quarter while growing our common stock dividend by approximately 21 percent,” CEO Jim Taiclet said in a statement.
The company, however, reduced the midpoint of its 2018 forecast for property revenue, net income and adjusted earnings. Officials said increased expectations for tenant billings in the U.S. and other international markets would not be able to overcome the effects of churn from Indian carrier consolidation.
The new forecast also raised full-year expectations for consolidated AFFO, and Taiclet noted that its U.S. tenant billings growth should climb by about 6.5 percent due to new co-locations, a strong application pipeline and “record levels of new business commencements.”
“We remain confident that our U.S. macro tower business, complemented by our franchise small cell installations, extensive international portfolio and emerging innovation initiatives, will continue to drive strong growth and attractive total returns for many years to come,” Taiclet said.
