American Tower vs SBA Communications
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KIRA’s take AI analyst
I put American Tower and SBA Communications side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:
- American Tower is the larger business, with $10.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $2.8B for SBA Communications, about 3.8 times as much.
- SBA Communications kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (47.7% operating margin, against 45.5%).
- SBA Communications turned more of its sales into free cash flow (37.9% FCF margin, against 35.5%).
- SBA Communications earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (14.4%, against 9.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of American Tower’s earnings: a P/E of 25.9x against 20.0x for SBA Communications.
Who comes out ahead
Of the 9 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.
American Tower
AMT
2/9
Revenue growthNet debt / EBITDA
SBA Communications
SBAC
7/9
5-year growthOperating marginNet marginFCF marginReturn on capitalPiotroski F-scoreShare count change
Side by side
Best in the row
| Latest fiscal year | AMT FY25 | SBAC FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $87.8B | $19.8B |
| Revenue | $10.6B | $2.8B |
| Free cash flow | $3.8B | $1.1B |
| Net income | $2.6B | $1.1B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 5.1% | 5.1% |
| 5-year growth | 5.8% | 6.2% |
| Share count change | 0.1% | −0.5% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 75.5% |
| Operating margin | 45.5% | 47.7% |
| Net margin | 24.7% | 37.4% |
| FCF margin | 35.5% | 37.9% |
| Return on capital | 9.3% | 14.4% |
| Return on equity | 74.7% | — |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $35.7B | $12.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.2x | 7.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $3.5B | $977M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 25.9x | 20.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Ten years
Revenue
Operating margin
Free cash flow
Return on capital
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.