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

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In the latest trading session, American Tower (AMT - Free Report) closed at $166.21, marking a -1.84% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.23%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.31%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.09%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the wireless communications infrastructure company had lost 4.42% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's gain of 0.34% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.43% in that time.

American Tower will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, American Tower is projected to report earnings of $2.18 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 7.63%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.76 billion, up 3.15% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.71 per share and revenue of $11.05 billion, which would represent changes of -0.51% and +3.18%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for American Tower. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.04% 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 17.43. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.7, which means American Tower is trading at a premium to the group.

Meanwhile, AMT's PEG ratio is currently 1.22. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. REIT and Equity Trust - Other stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.33 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, putting it in the bottom 27% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow AMT in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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