American Tower Q2 2026: AFFO per share up 4.2%, outlook raised again
American Tower's second quarter looks better, or worse, depending on the line you read. Headline net income jumped 133.2%, but that is mostly currency noise; the cleaner measure, AFFO per share, rose 4.2% to $2.71. View: Neutral. Read the release for cash flow and guidance, not GAAP earnings. Note the raw data feed mis-scales revenue; the press release's $2.75 billion is the right number.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowGAAP diluted earnings per share came in at $1.86, up 138.5% and well above the $1.58 consensus estimate. The catch is that net income growth of 133.2% rode on $42.1 million of unrealized foreign currency gains, against $484.0 million of losses in the prior-year quarter. The cash measure REIT investors rely on, AFFO per share, grew just 4.2% to $2.71.
Total revenue rose 4.7% to $2.75 billion, with property revenue up 6.3% to $2.69 billion while services revenue shrank to $61.3 million from $99.5 million. Property gross margin was 73.7% and adjusted EBITDA margin was 65.8%, both healthy for a tower REIT. Organic tenant billings growth was only 1.7%, versus 2.4% total tenant billings growth, so the gap between reported revenue growth and underlying leasing is wide.
Management raised the full-year 2026 property revenue midpoint to $10.77 billion, $110 million higher, and lifted AFFO per share guidance to a range of $11.00 to $11.17. The net income midpoint went up by $255 million, more than double the operational increases, because of unrealized foreign currency gains. The hike is real but modest once currency and one-time items are stripped out.
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Figures on this page come from the company's original SEC filings. The analysis is generated automatically and checked against validation rules, but may still contain errors or omissions. Not investment advice. · Generated 2026-09-17
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