American Tower Q3 Profit Rises

(RTTNews) - Cellular tower operator American Tower Corp. (AMT), Thursday reported an increase in profit for the third quarter, reflecting a surge in revenues on increased consumer preference for mobile devices.

Chief Executive Jim Taiclet said, "Our combined domestic and diversified international portfolio delivered nearly 12% Organic Core Growth in the third quarter. Consumer adoption of increasingly advanced mobile devices and services, which ultimately drives our organic growth, continues unabated in both the U.S. and in our other served markets."

Boston, Massachusetts-based American Tower's third-quarter profit rose to $199.9 million or $0.50 per share from $180.1 million or $0.45 per share last year. On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.57 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

American Tower's revenues for the quarter grew 28.5 percent to $1.04 billion from last year's $807.88 million. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.03 billion for the quarter.

Domestic rental and management segment's revenue increased 25.2 percent to $664 million, while international rental and management unit's revenues rose 30.3 percent to $348 million. Network development services segment revenues were $27.1 million compared to $11.3 million last year.

Looking forward to the full year 2014, the company expects net income of $805 million to $825 million and total rental and management revenue $3.975 billion to $4.005 billion. Analysts currently expect earnings of $2.25 per share and revenues of $4.10 billion for 2014.

AMT is currently trading at $98.99, up $3.94 or 4.15%, on the NYSE.