American Tower Q2 Results Top Estimates, Boosts 2014 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Communication tower sites operator American Tower Corp. (AMT) reported Wednesday a profit for the second quarter that soared from last year, reflecting strong double-digit revenue growth and lower unrealized foreign currency losses.

Both earnings per share and quarterly revenues topped analysts' expectations. The company also raised its net income and revenue guidance for the full-year 2014.

"Our second quarter 2014 results exceeded our expectations across all key metrics due to strong global demand for our tower space. 4G coverage and densification initiatives by our major tenants drove Organic Core Growth of over 11% in the U.S., and significant investment levels by tenants internationally drove Organic Core Growth of nearly 18%," CEO Jim Taiclet said in a statement.

The Boston, Massachusetts-based REIT reported net income of $230.06 million or $0.58 per share for the second quarter, sharply higher than $99.82 million or $0.25 per share in the prior-year quarter.

On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.54 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Funds from operations or FFO, for the quarter increased to $443.98 million from $255.94 million last year, and adjusted FFO was $473.91 million or $1.19 per share, compared to $366.21 million or $0.92 per share last year. Core Growth in AFFO was about 31.4 percent.

The company noted that the strong organic core growth trends, in combination with contributions from new assets, led to record AFFO per share growth in the quarter of over 29 percent.

Total operating revenues for the quarter increased 27.5 percent to $1.03 billion from $808.83 million in the same quarter last year, and topped seventeen Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $999.15 million.

Total rental and management revenues rose 27.4 percent to $1.01 billion from $789.20 million last year. Core growth was about 32.9 percent and organic core growth was about 13.6 percent.

Network development services revenue also grew to $25.70 million from last year's $19.63 million.

Domestic rental and management segment revenue increased 26.6 percent to $660 million, and international rental and management segment revenue rose 29.0 percent to $346 million from the year-ago quarter.

Operating income for the quarter increased to $402.50 million from last year. Total operating expenses for the quarter increased to $628.96 million from $496.02 million a year ago. Other expenses totaled $159.04 million, lower than $240.15 million a year ago, including sharply lower unrealized foreign currency losses.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2014, the company currently expects net income in a range of $830 million to $850 million, adjusted FFO in the range of $1.755 billion to $1.795 billion as well as total rental and management revenue between $3.945 billion and $4.015 billion.

Street is currently looking for full-year 2014 earnings of $2.20 per share on annual revenues of $4.04 billion.

The company had earlier projected net income in the range of $820 million to $850 million, adjusted FFO between $1.72 billion and $1.76 billion, as well as total rental and management revenue between $3.89 billion and $3.97 billion.

In Wednesday's regular trading session, AMT is currently trading at $95.15, up $2.80 or 3.03% on a volume of 1.15 million shares.