American Tower reports $2,785 million in third-quarter revenue
Key Facts
American Tower reported on October 27 results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, posting total revenue of $2,785 million, up 2.5% year over year. Property revenue, the company’s core operating metric, rose 4.5% to $2,734 million. Results showed differing growth drivers, with the data center business expanding faster than organic tenant billings. Chief Executive Steve Vondran said the quarter was "supported by consistent leasing demand across our global tower portfolio and continued outperformance from CoreSite." The figures put property and data center performance at the forefront of the results, while growth in organic tenant billings remained more modest.
Organic tenant billings increased 1.1% during the quarter, while cash data center revenue grew 16.3%. The gap reflects faster growth in data centers than in the organic billings metric across the businesses covered by these figures. CoreSite, American Tower’s data center subsidiary, featured in Vondran’s comments on the period’s results. The company also tied its performance to ongoing leasing demand across its global tower portfolio. Together, the two metrics present a mixed picture of operating growth: strong progress in data center revenue against slower growth in organic tenant billings.
On an adjusted cash flow basis, AFFO attributable to common shareholders was $1,335 million, up 2.4% year over year. AFFO per share reached $2.87, an increase of 3.2% from the corresponding period. The results distinguish between growth in the total amount attributable to shareholders and growth in the per-share measure, which rose at different rates during the quarter. Both measures were higher than a year earlier, alongside the reported growth in revenue and property revenue. The results came in a quarter in which the company’s businesses expanded at different rates.
American Tower allocated $315 million to share repurchases during the third quarter. After the period ended, the board on October 23 authorized up to an additional $2.0 billion under the repurchase program. The additional authorization was issued before the results were announced on October 27, while the amount executed during the quarter relates to the period ended September 30. The announced repurchase policy combines spending during the quarter with an additional authorization limit approved by the board later. The company’s shares closed at $188.28 on October 26, the session before the results announcement.