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Here's Why American Tower (AMT) Gained But Lagged the Market Today

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In the latest trading session, American Tower (AMT - Free Report) closed at $224.06, marking a +0.24% move from the previous day. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.01%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.55%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.13%.

Coming into today, shares of the wireless communications infrastructure company had lost 1.93% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 3.02%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.5%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of American Tower in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $2.61, signifying a 1.16% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $2.85 billion, indicating a 1.09% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $10.45 per share and revenue of $11.21 billion, indicating changes of +5.88% and +0.57%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for American Tower. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. At present, American Tower boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, American Tower is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 21.39. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 12.6 for its industry.

Also, we should mention that AMT has a PEG ratio of 1.44. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.34 as trading concluded yesterday.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 79, placing it within the top 32% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.


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