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4 Reasons to Add American Tower Stock to Your Portfolio Now
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Key Takeaways
AMT taps rising 5G investment and CoreSite demand, backed by long-term, recurring leases.
CoreSite's Q2 property revenues rose 13.4% to $297M; 2026 data center growth outlook rose to about 15%.
AMT had $49.9B in future rent receipts, $9.9B in liquidity and a 4.9x net leverage ratio as of June 30.
American Tower (AMT - Free Report) is well-positioned to benefit from rising wireless network investments and growing demand for data center connectivity through its CoreSite platform. Its long-term leases and recurring revenues provide cash flow stability, while strong liquidity and disciplined leverage management support financial flexibility and long-term growth prospects.
Analysts seem bullish on this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock. The estimate revision trend for 2026 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share indicates a favorable outlook, with estimates moving north over the past two months.
Over the past three months, shares of AMT have increased 5%, outperforming the industry’s 5.2% decline. Given its solid fundamentals and positive estimate revisions, the stock is likely to maintain its momentum in the quarters ahead.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
What Makes American Tower a Solid Choice?
5G and carrier investment cycle: Rising mobile data consumption, fixed wireless access and emerging AI applications continue to support carrier investment in wireless network capacity. Management expects about 800 megahertz of new mobile spectrum to become available over the next few years, beginning with the Upper C-band in 2027, which could drive additional equipment deployments and lease amendments.
The eventual transition to 6G could add another infrastructure cycle as networks adopt higher-frequency spectrum and more distributed architectures. As of June 30, 2026, American Tower had 148,456 communication sites, excluding managed sites, providing broad exposure to carrier amendments and colocation opportunities. These factors support longer-term leasing growth as carriers expand capacity, deploy spectrum and increase network density.
Data centers and interconnection: CoreSite expands American Tower’s exposure to cloud, enterprise connectivity and AI-related workloads. In the second quarter of 2026, data center property revenues rose 13.4% to $297 million, while cash revenues increased 12.3%. The quarter also produced record new leasing revenues and management raised its full-year 2026 data center growth outlook to approximately 15% from 13%. American Tower expects to spend $695 million on data center development in 2026, supporting continued expansion of this platform.
Contracted and recurring cash flows: American Tower generates the majority of its property revenues from non-cancellable, long-term tenant leases. Wireless carrier leases generally have initial terms of five to 10 years, with multiple renewal options. Most tower leases include periodic rent escalators, averaging about 3% annually in the United States or linked to inflation internationally.
As of June 30, 2026, the company had $49.9 billion in future minimum rental receipts under non-cancellable operating leases, providing substantial long-term revenue visibility. This substantial contracted revenue base provides cash-flow visibility across economic cycles, while the operational difficulty of relocating network equipment supports lease renewals and recurring site revenues over time.
Balance sheet and liquidity: American Tower’s recurring cash flows continue to support financial flexibility and liquidity position. As of June 30, 2026, the company had about $9.9 billion of total liquidity. Net debt was $35.4 billion, while the net leverage ratio was 4.9x, within management’s target range of 3x to 5x.
During the second quarter of 2026, the company repaid $700 million of senior notes due in April and €500 million of notes due in May. It also issued €750 million of 4% senior notes due in 2033 and partially redeemed notes due in 2027. The company had reduced floating-rate exposure over time. Management said its strengthened balance sheet provides flexibility to pursue acquisitions, share repurchases or further deleveraging after prioritizing dividends and capital spending.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PSTL’s 2026 FFO per share is pinned at $1.44. This indicates year-over-year growth of 9.1%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VICI’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $2.47. This calls for a year-over-year increase of 3.8%.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITS.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
4 Reasons to Add American Tower Stock to Your Portfolio Now
Key Takeaways
American Tower (AMT - Free Report) is well-positioned to benefit from rising wireless network investments and growing demand for data center connectivity through its CoreSite platform. Its long-term leases and recurring revenues provide cash flow stability, while strong liquidity and disciplined leverage management support financial flexibility and long-term growth prospects.
Analysts seem bullish on this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock. The estimate revision trend for 2026 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share indicates a favorable outlook, with estimates moving north over the past two months.
Over the past three months, shares of AMT have increased 5%, outperforming the industry’s 5.2% decline. Given its solid fundamentals and positive estimate revisions, the stock is likely to maintain its momentum in the quarters ahead.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
What Makes American Tower a Solid Choice?
5G and carrier investment cycle: Rising mobile data consumption, fixed wireless access and emerging AI applications continue to support carrier investment in wireless network capacity. Management expects about 800 megahertz of new mobile spectrum to become available over the next few years, beginning with the Upper C-band in 2027, which could drive additional equipment deployments and lease amendments.
The eventual transition to 6G could add another infrastructure cycle as networks adopt higher-frequency spectrum and more distributed architectures. As of June 30, 2026, American Tower had 148,456 communication sites, excluding managed sites, providing broad exposure to carrier amendments and colocation opportunities. These factors support longer-term leasing growth as carriers expand capacity, deploy spectrum and increase network density.
Data centers and interconnection: CoreSite expands American Tower’s exposure to cloud, enterprise connectivity and AI-related workloads. In the second quarter of 2026, data center property revenues rose 13.4% to $297 million, while cash revenues increased 12.3%. The quarter also produced record new leasing revenues and management raised its full-year 2026 data center growth outlook to approximately 15% from 13%. American Tower expects to spend $695 million on data center development in 2026, supporting continued expansion of this platform.
Contracted and recurring cash flows: American Tower generates the majority of its property revenues from non-cancellable, long-term tenant leases. Wireless carrier leases generally have initial terms of five to 10 years, with multiple renewal options. Most tower leases include periodic rent escalators, averaging about 3% annually in the United States or linked to inflation internationally.
As of June 30, 2026, the company had $49.9 billion in future minimum rental receipts under non-cancellable operating leases, providing substantial long-term revenue visibility. This substantial contracted revenue base provides cash-flow visibility across economic cycles, while the operational difficulty of relocating network equipment supports lease renewals and recurring site revenues over time.
Balance sheet and liquidity: American Tower’s recurring cash flows continue to support financial flexibility and liquidity position. As of June 30, 2026, the company had about $9.9 billion of total liquidity. Net debt was $35.4 billion, while the net leverage ratio was 4.9x, within management’s target range of 3x to 5x.
During the second quarter of 2026, the company repaid $700 million of senior notes due in April and €500 million of notes due in May. It also issued €750 million of 4% senior notes due in 2033 and partially redeemed notes due in 2027. The company had reduced floating-rate exposure over time. Management said its strengthened balance sheet provides flexibility to pursue acquisitions, share repurchases or further deleveraging after prioritizing dividends and capital spending.
Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Postal Realty Trust (PSTL - Free Report) and VICI Properties (VICI - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PSTL’s 2026 FFO per share is pinned at $1.44. This indicates year-over-year growth of 9.1%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VICI’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $2.47. This calls for a year-over-year increase of 3.8%.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITS.