Timing note: July 28, 2026 is today, not tomorrow. This preview is written as of the July 27 market close, ahead of AMT’s scheduled 2Q26 earnings call on July 28, 2026.
American Tower enters 2Q with a constructive long-term setup but a relatively high burden of proof on the quality of growth. The central question is not likely to be headline revenue or GAAP EPS—both can be meaningfully affected by FX, straight-line accounting, and prior-year comparison noise. Instead, investors should focus on whether AMT is demonstrating that it can transition from a 2026 year shaped by DISH-related churn and Brazil consolidation to its stated durable mid- to upper-single-digit AFFO/share growth framework.
The key positives are clear:
But 2Q needs to confirm three things:
AMT’s reported 1Q U.S. & Canada organic tenant billings growth was only 0.6%, but management characterized the underlying figure as roughly 5% excluding one-time DISH churn. For full-year 2026, AMT guided to approximately 0.5% U.S. & Canada organic tenant billings growth, again reflecting the DISH effect.
That makes 2Q a critical read on the base business:
Investor interpretation: A modest reported U.S. growth figure should not automatically be viewed negatively if management again demonstrates roughly mid-single-digit growth excluding DISH. Conversely, weakness in the normalized figure would challenge the company’s longer-term tower-growth algorithm.
Latin America remains AMT’s most important operating swing factor. In 1Q, Latin America organic tenant billings growth was negative 2%, primarily due to elevated churn in Brazil. Management has framed 2026 as a trough year because certain churn was delayed from 2025 and other Oi-related churn was accelerated from 2027 into 2026.
The company’s full-year outlook still assumes approximately negative 3% organic tenant billings growth in Latin America. Management expects a return to positive, low-single-digit growth in 2027 and more normalized growth thereafter.
For 2Q, focus on:
What would be constructive: Management reiterates that churn has peaked, reports improving application volumes or new-business activity in Brazil, and maintains confidence in a return to growth next year.
What would concern investors: A guidance reduction, further deterioration in Brazilian churn, or less confidence in the timing of the 2027 recovery.
CoreSite is the most important positive offset to tower-industry concerns. In 1Q, Data Centers property revenue grew 18.4% reported, while management cited approximately 17% cash revenue growth excluding non-cash straight-line revenue. Full-year guidance calls for approximately 12.5% Data Centers property-revenue growth at the midpoint.
Management has pointed to:
AMT also indicated that it had increased capacity held for development by roughly 200 MW versus the prior year. Its 2026 capital plan includes approximately $695 million of Data Centers development spending.
For the quarter, investors should watch:
Key nuance: Strong CoreSite demand is valuable, but the market will likely distinguish between profitable, interconnection-rich growth and lower-return, capital-intensive capacity expansion. AMT’s strategy is explicitly centered on the former.
After 1Q, AMT raised its 2026 outlook to:
| 2026 outlook | Range | Midpoint |
|---|---|---|
| Property revenue | $10.585B–$10.735B | $10.660B |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $7.195B–$7.265B | $7.230B |
| AFFO attributable to common shareholders | $5.090B–$5.170B | $5.130B |
| AFFO per share | $10.90–$11.07 | $10.99 |
The 1Q guidance increase was important, but it was driven largely by approximately $110 million of FX tailwinds and approximately $35 million of accelerated non-cash straight-line revenue in Latin America, tied to Oi-related activity.
Therefore, a 2Q guidance raise would be most meaningful if it comes from:
A raise driven only by FX or non-cash straight-line accounting would still be positive for reported earnings, but less powerful for the longer-term investment case.
AMT produced $2.84 of AFFO/share in 1Q, up 3.3% year over year. Management has said that, after adjusting for FX, DISH churn, and refinancing costs, underlying AFFO/share growth was closer to 4% in the quarter.
For full-year 2026, management’s midpoint implies approximately 2% reported AFFO/share growth. However, management has emphasized that cash taxes and maintenance-capex timing should make FX-neutral AFFO/share growth stronger in the second half of 2026.
Important items for the call:
AMT ended 1Q with $37.3 billion of total debt, $1.6 billion of cash, and 4.9x net leverage. It repaid $500 million of notes in February and another $700 million in April. The company repurchased approximately $184 million of stock in 1Q and another $19 million through April 21; cumulative repurchases since 4Q25 exceeded $565 million at that point. The quarterly dividend was raised 5.3% year over year to $1.79/share.
This capital-allocation flexibility is an underappreciated part of the setup. With leverage below 5x, AMT can fund the dividend, pursue high-return CoreSite development, repurchase shares opportunistically, and retain optionality for M&A or further deleveraging.
AMT shares closed at $166.77 on July 27, down roughly 6.5% from the April 28 close following 1Q earnings. That performance suggests investors remain focused on the persistence of tower-sector growth, interest-rate sensitivity, and the uncertainty around DISH and Latin America.
The earnings setup is therefore less about a single-quarter “beat” and more about confirmation of the narrative:
AMT needs to show that 2026 is a transitional year with temporary churn and accounting/FX noise—not evidence of a structurally slower tower business.
If the company can validate normalized U.S. mid-single-digit leasing, stabilize Latin America, sustain CoreSite’s double-digit growth, and reiterate its path to stronger back-half AFFO/share growth, the report should reinforce the longer-term case for a higher-quality, more diversified digital-infrastructure REIT.
Sources: American Tower 1Q26 earnings release and earnings-call transcript dated April 28, 2026; AMT presentation at the MoffettNathanson conference dated May 14, 2026; AMT share-price data through July 27, 2026.