American Tower Crushes Estimates

American Tower (NYSE: AMT  ) reported earnings on Feb. 23. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), American Tower met expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly, and GAAP earnings per share grew significantly.

Gross margins contracted, operating margins improved, and net margins improved.

Revenue details
American Tower logged revenue of $653.2 million. The 20 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated revenue of $652.5 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 19% higher than the prior-year quarter's $547.6 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.51. The 20 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.30 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.51 for Q4 were 143% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.21 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 74.6%, 110 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 37.9%, 80 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 30.8%, 1,560 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $665.9 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.36.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.80 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.52.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 785 members rating the stock outperform and 79 members rating it underperform. Among 190 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 173 give American Tower a green thumbs-up, and 17 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on American Tower is buy, with an average price target of $66.32.

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