American Tower's Third-Quarter Earnings Report

(Reuters) – Real estate investment trust American Tower (NYSE:AMT) missed third-quarter revenue estimates on Tuesday due to diminished customer spending in its leasing business, causing its shares to fall 2.7% in early morning trading.

The company leases space on its communications sites to firms including wireless service providers as well as radio and television broadcasters.

An uncertain economy has led telecom companies to reduce spending, resulting in lower leasing activity and decreased demand for tower space.

American Tower now expects annual adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), a key measure of cash flow, to be between $9.86 per share and $10.03 per share. Analysts had estimated it to be $10.59 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company attributed the revised forecast to adjustments and noted that the sale of ATC to Brookfield Asset Management (TSX:BAM) was not considered in the previous financial forecast.

Revenue at its property segment, comprising its site-leasing business, fell 1% to $2.47 billion in the reported quarter.

The wireless infrastructure provider reported total revenue of $2.52 billion in the third quarter, below an estimate of $2.76 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

American Tower's main customers include telecom giants such as AT&T (NYSE:T), Verizon (NYSE:VZ), and T-Mobile, which accounted for a significant portion of revenue from its property segment in the U.S. and Canada last year.

The company expects full-year 2024 total property revenue to be between $9.89 billion and $9.98 billion, down from its prior forecast of $11.1 billion to $11.28 billion.

It reported AFFO of $2.52 per share in the third quarter, compared with an estimate of $2.58 per share.