American Tower Corp Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Matthew Niknam - Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. - Analyst : Maybe two, if I could. First, maybe more high level. You've done a lot of portfolio optimization in recent years. And so I'm wondering if it's fair to assume on a go-forward basis, a more sharpened focus on the globalization strategy, more cost optimization with the remaining assets that you've got in place? And then secondarily, on the US side, it sounds like there's still a lot of momentum both in services and new applications. I'm just wondering how we should think about the cadence of colo and amendment revs in upcoming periods relative to the $38 million in 1Q. And I guess more specifically, whether you're still comfortable with that $165 million to $170 million range that was laid out for new leasing last quarter?

Question: James Schneider - Goldman Sachs & Company, Inc. - Analyst : Two, if I may. First of all, when you look at the sort of US carrier activity and the activity you're seeing there, with respect to leasing activity, it seems relatively consistent with what you would -- but on the margin, can you maybe talk about any kind of changes that you're seeing as we head through the end of the year in terms of what is being prioritized by carriers in terms of new activity? And then secondly, following up on the cost efficiency program, see if you're pretty clear about that being a focus for you. Maybe just give us a sense of without giving us a firm target, directionally, as you head into the out years, is the target to kind of get from the 7% constant currency AFFO growth you're doing this year to something closer to double digits in the out years?

Question: Richard Prentiss - Raymond James & Associates, Inc. - Analyst : A couple of questions. Appreciate that. First, I always have thought capital allocation is probably the top job for senior management. You guys have been working on that as you laid out. Leverage now hit 5.0. We're getting closer to that coming below 5.0. Update us as far as thoughts on stock buyback, is there an authorized program, M&A, clearly and other potential any portfolios out there? And maybe explicitly talk about Canada as a market, not necessarily the transactions out there, but what would be the attributes that would be attractive in a country like Canada. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. APRIL 29, 2025 / 12:30PM, AMT.N - Q1 2025 American Tower Corp Earnings Call

Question: Richard Prentiss - Raymond James & Associates, Inc. - Analyst : Makes sense. I think have you changed your middle name officially to see current conditions (inaudible).

Question: Richard Prentiss - Raymond James & Associates, Inc. - Analyst : One follow-up for me also some questions around colocation amendments. Can you break out for us what either in the applications or new revenue 1Q saw as far as colocation amendment kind of the split between those because we are watching it, some folks are starting to see some higher amount of new colocation obviously comes in at a much higher incremental revenue than amendment.

Question: Richard Prentiss - Raymond James & Associates, Inc. - Analyst : We expect over the next couple of years, we'll see more of that.

Question: Michael Rollins - Citi Investment Research - Analyst : Just first, when you look at the colocation opportunity that you were just describing, I'm curious how much of that is competitive, whether it's other large tower firms or smaller private firms or build to suits, whether it's by the carrier or some of the other private firms. How much of that is competitive? And is there an opportunity to work with your customers to try to improve your share or win rate, if that's an option. And then second, if you're just looking at the annualized EBITDA, and it looks to be above the high end of the guidance range, so the annualized first quarter number. I'm just curious if there are certain items that we should be mindful of through the year that may pull back into the current guidance range?

Question: Nicholas Del Deo - MoffettNathanson - Analyst : First, can you expand a bit on the sort of services work that you're seeing behind the big increases and the degree to which that revenue is coincident with the length the leasing activity that you're seeing versus being more of a leading indicator. And second, I know you need to be a bit careful with the specifics of any deal and any particular customer. But if EchoStar would engage in sort of transaction involving its spectrum, whether sale or a lease, do you have any contractual protections above and beyond their promise pay the agreed-upon rent.

Question: Nicholas Del Deo - MoffettNathanson - Analyst : Sorry, just -- yes, service the mix there and degree which it's coincident versus a lead indicator.

Question: Batya Levi - UBS Equities - Analyst : Great. I have a question on LatAm. I think you mentioned that you are seeing a bit of more activity showing up. We haven't really seen that in the results yet. So can you talk to the cadence of incremental leasing in LatAm. And I think churn came in a bit lower. Was that just timing? And how should we think about the escalator? I think that was better as well.

Question: Eric Luebchow - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC - Analyst : Great. You mentioned that you're obviously off a holistic agreement or a comprehensive agreement with one of your large carriers. And I know they have a lot of work to do with mid-band coverage. So maybe you could provide some color on any discussions with them on potentially going to do a new holistic agreement? Are you happy with the a la carte arrangement? And how do you think about kind of the cadence player spending contributing to your leasing throughout this year into next.

Question: Eric Luebchow - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC - Analyst : Great. And just one follow-up question. I wanted to touch on the CoreSite footprint. There obviously have been a ton of headlines in the data center segment year-to-date around certain hyperscalers slowing, some questions around enterprise IT spending, just given the lack of visibility in the broader economy. So maybe you could just touch on what your sales funnel looks like within the data center business across the cloud companies and the more type retail colocation companies as well.

Question: Michael Funk - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Yeah, good morning. So you mentioned uncertainty a few times prepared remarks and you held back on increasing guidance ex the FX impact. So I guess maybe some more color, if you could, on the markets that are more vulnerable that are leading to hold back on increasing guidance and what you're looking for in those markets?

Question: Michael Funk - BofA Global Research - Analyst : One more, if I could, quickly. Can you help us frame (inaudible) how much of the service revenue (inaudible). Creating or doing the RAN upgrade versus more traditional service revenue process?

Question: Michael Funk - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Okay. So more organic, not necessarily one carrier ran grade dependent.

Question: Benjamin Swinburne - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : We had another quarter last week of strong fixed wireless growth across your domestic carrier customer base. And I know it's hard to sort of map that to what you're seeing here. I just wanted to see if, Steve, if you had any updated thoughts on sort of the increased activity you keep talking about and seeing in your business, the outlook for accelerated growth and the role it wireless may or may not be playing in carrier investment into their networks. And then maybe for Rod. I think you guys last quarter talked about having maybe a quantified cost savings initiative message for us later this year. I know you don't have anything new on that front today. But just wondering if you have any update in terms of the process or things that the team is focused on or opportunities that you think are sizable just as we kind of think about that opportunity longer term for the company.

Question: Jonathan Atkin - RBC Capital Markets Wealth Management - Analyst : So I wanted to ask a little bit about inorganic growth. And particularly in Europe, what would be some of the criteria that you would look at to maybe get bigger in some of those developed markets, whether it's scale or valuation and what's kind of the landscape there and your lens around acquisition. And then back on CoreSite, you made some pretty positive comments. Are we to conclude that you're seeing accelerating growth in REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. APRIL 29, 2025 / 12:30PM, AMT.N - Q1 2025 American Tower Corp Earnings Call (inaudible) counts and broader cabinet growth based on the demand trends that you saw, anything on book-to-bill that you can share in other metrics around CoreSite.