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American Tower (AMT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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American Tower (AMT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $188.64, moving -1.31% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.2% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.59%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.54%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the wireless communications infrastructure company had lost 2.85% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's gain of 2.29% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.14% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from American Tower as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.36, down 8.88% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.73 billion, up 2.23% from the year-ago period.

AMT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.66 per share and revenue of $11.01 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -1.02% and +2.75%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for American Tower. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.16% lower. American Tower is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, American Tower is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.78. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.71, which means American Tower is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that AMT has a PEG ratio of 1.27 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.96 as of yesterday's close.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 176, which puts it in the bottom 31% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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