American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Gret. Steve, maybe you could just talk about your role as a CEO that you took on earlier this year. Now that we're over halfway through the year, can you just talk about strategic priorities, objectives for the company and anything you're sort of doing differently or putting your DNA on the company?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. They must be built. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Great. That's a fat thing to chew on. Hopefully, I have time to address all that said. But we could start with sales. I guess the US carrier activity last year when we were speaking here was subdued and it seems like it's sort of continued that pace. But you did note that some activity picking up. So maybe compared to where you're seeing activity this year, where it was at compared to last year at this point?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Got it. And what's the timeline from applications to actually seeing the revenue recognition under. So that's when you're seeing the activity now picking up this years. How long till we actually see that as excess revenue?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : And you mentioned, amendments are a little more heavy in the mix with this activity. Does that suggest then you're still in coverage mode you think? Because the last time we spoke, there's Phase 1, there is Phase 2. And now we're going move more towards co-location. But later at some point, towards densification.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : And you're guiding $180 million $190 million in US new leasing guidance, but you track about $90 million in first half of the year. So simple math says you're on the low end of that, but will you maybe come into the middle of it? Because you've noted your service revenue is going up, that's a leading indicator, activities picking up. So is that how you should think about it? Or are you thinking that maybe tracking towards the lower end? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Got it. And as we start to look at 2025, maybe remind us of your level of visibility. Given your holistic MLAs that you have and how does that visibility compare to 2024?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : And you mentioned there's one point carry out that you do not have a holistic MLA anymore. Can you just have a near term opportunity to have a holistic agreement in place with all of your large customers then?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : That's sure.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Got it. And you mentioned, your call it out, you have one carrier that's over 80% of the sites are deployed of 5G. Another carrier has a little over 60%, but there's a third carrier that's quote a little bit further behind. So is it fair to assume that that third carrier is going to begin to upgrade their network more aggressively in order to sort of catch up in later?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : And we just stuck to Verizon's Chief Network Operator last Friday. And he said sort of similar things. He said that they are also C-band and a vast majority of their 78,000 sites, mostly by year-end 2025. So much as. I'm curious, you mentioned that you have very little exposure, I think you said less than 1%? (multiple speakers) Okay. But moving on to [disten], in terms of the another one you have very little exposure to, maybe you can help us with the shot clock looming on the horizon. Have you had conversations in general on the build-out and as you sit right here, you got a long way to go and [you're just your customer, you said.]

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Yeah. I mean, even on the earnings call also was on last Friday, they did say -- they're doing a lot of things behind the scenes. So they are really confident in meeting our shot clock. We take them at their word and sure enough. You would think that maybe during the middle of a big bondholder agreement and they're going to settle these November maturities, maybe they get that fair, that maybe that can be something that can help them unleash and just go back to business.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Fair enough. So moving on to India, you mentioned in the second quarter call that approval from the competition commission is in the final hurdles and new inflows of sale I think could come four to six weeks later. Are there any other hurdles that we should know or should be aware of?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Right.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Got it. And on second quarter earnings call, you mentioned that you expect higher SG&A and maintenance CapEx in India prior to close. So can you provide any additional color on the magnitude of these higher costs and the drivers behind these increasing costs? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. And as it relates to the international portfolio in large American Shipping, it's discretionary capital, as you noted, towards developed markets and away from emerging markets. Maybe help us with that rationale and help us understand the definition really of a developed market versus emerging market for American Tower.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Yeah, sure. I mean even at the IHS and TNDO, I guess the narrower pressure the last couple of years and the opportunities you have in front of you, especially in data centers hopefully we'll get to, it seems like there's more there. But as you look at the international portfolio, which markets or regions, would you most bullish in? As you mentioned, Europe would be part of the developed markets and over the medium term and what were the drivers behind that deal?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : This is a higher hurdle rate.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : I guess it's two questions. And thank you for that. One is on one on one, you mentioned. What's the visibility on one and one going forward?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : And going back across the Atlantic, what's your visibility on the oil churn? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Got it. That's helpful. And as I think about the emerging markets, again, we saw India evolve. Are there any other markets you sort of have similar characteristics to India, where maybe it made sense at one time, but now it's evolving and contemplating exiting?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Got it. Moving on to data centers, how would you describe the health of the enterprise buyer for data center capacity? Are you seeing that elongates sales cycle within that vertical? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : And as you think about the CoreSite data centers, are all your data centers and the Gen AI opportunity, obviously very topical. A lot of the data set up opportunity seems to be a training data centers now that you've built these in us. And I'll leave all the inference notes, but of course, that's more of the interconnect facility. So just wondering how do you see CoreSite benefiting in new Gen AI opportunity?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Right, so on of the big hyperscalers that had the inference.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Alright, Yeah. The supply will hyperscale and the enterprise themselves. Right? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : And then talking about power. I mean, it's become a -- power constraints is a huge focus in the US and it's only a growing headwind to growth. Are you running into any issues procuring additional power? And as part of that, how you think about securing access incremental power in your current markets over the long term?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. That's good to know. And how do you think about potential to expand our geographic footprint at CoreSite?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. And you started the conversation with your five priorities, and I'll bring it back to capital allocation. You've mentioned I think that last one was deleveraging and focusing on that. But how do you think about your capital allocation strategy when the company gets below 5x leverage, more delevering versus buybacks? You just mentioned possible tuck-ins so how do you balance it off?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : A disciplined spreadsheet aspect of it.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Right. When you look at the M&A landscape, have you observed any notable changes in seller expectations in the last year in US and Europe and international?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. Why don't I give it back to the tower space in US that the other conversation about densification and go over some [amendment] that we're talking about it. First, assuming the steepest ramp of densification in '26 and 2027, I mean, first of all, do you push back with that assertions when you think that's the case would happen?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Do you see a correlation between increased adoption of AI and the need for additional mobile infrastructure? I mean, we're trying to think about how AI is going to the edge and maybe then the micro edge. Is that something -- I'll stop there and maybe well there are use cases or anything to think about?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Sure.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Yeah, there's a lot of chew on it. You guys in the hardware at Apple's talking in or on the cloud...

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Yeah, but the video is interesting just because AI creating video, are we going to be watching more video? There's only so much dooms growing we do today and just to be created by AI, not buy TikToker.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. And then last few topic is just on Africa. You mentioned on the second-quarter call that you're looking into using the powers of service business model in Africa for other markets. Help us write an update regarding that comment and have you explored the model to any other markets? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Got it. And the other opportunity would be, and we spoke about M&A in Brazil, a comment I wanted to ask about is -- the company's underwriting new standards in Brazil or is it not from the environment that Brazil is in? How much of a factor this consolidation play here?

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Have you updated your sort of hurdle rates you've articulated publicly, for example, in the past, used to say that Mexico is exports above US and then Brazil is experts above that and then Africa was an expert of that. If it was in the past, but we'll see that off.

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. With that... REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 13, 2024 / 5:15PM, AMT.N - American Tower Corp at TD Cowen Communications Infrastructure Summit

Question: Greg Williams - TD Cowen - Analyst : Had a good try. Thank you. With that, we are out of questions. So, thank you.