American Tower key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, American Tower had return on equity of 71.9%, an operating margin of 45.5%, debt equal to 1019.0% of equity and a current ratio of 0.40. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Dec 2009 | 2010Dec 2010 | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMSept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 99.5% | 99.3% | 99.4% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating margin | 39.0% | 39.5% | 37.7% | 38.9% | 36.1% | 36.3% | 33.8% | 32.0% | 30.0% | 25.6% | 35.5% | 35.9% | 33.5% | 28.4% | 31.2% | 44.6% | 45.5% | 44.8% |
| Net margin | 14.3% | 18.8% | 16.2% | 22.2% | 16.4% | 20.1% | 14.4% | 16.5% | 18.6% | 16.6% | 24.9% | 21.0% | 27.4% | 18.3% | 14.8% | 22.3% | 23.8% | 30.1% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 34.3% | 34.0% | 26.3% | 29.4% | 26.0% | 28.3% | 30.1% | 34.9% | 31.8% | 38.1% | 36.4% | 35.4% | 36.8% | 18.9% | 29.2% | 36.5% | 35.5% | 36.0% |
| Return on equity | 7.4% | 10.9% | 11.7% | 18.6% | 15.5% | 22.0% | 12.9% | 14.3% | 19.1% | 21.4% | 36.3% | 37.0% | 56.0% | 33.1% | 30.4% | 59.5% | 71.9% | 92.4% |
| Return on assets | 2.9% | 3.9% | 3.5% | 4.8% | 3.2% | 4.0% | 2.8% | 3.3% | 3.9% | 3.7% | 5.0% | 3.8% | 4.4% | 2.6% | 2.2% | 3.5% | 4.1% | 5.3% |
| Asset turnover | 0.20 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.22 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.20 | 0.18 | 0.16 | 0.14 | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.17 |
| Current ratio | 1.67 | 2.61 | 0.99 | 1.32 | 1.06 | 0.50 | 0.83 | 1.04 | 0.81 | 0.51 | 0.47 | 0.79 | 0.41 | 0.44 | 0.51 | 0.45 | 0.40 | 0.35 |
| Debt to equity | 127.0% | 159.6% | 220.1% | 246.3% | 410.3% | 369.5% | 257.4% | 274.0% | 323.7% | 396.5% | 475.8% | 715.5% | 856.0% | 698.1% | 924.2% | >999% | >999% | >999% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 2.7x | 3.2x | 3.0x | 2.8x | 2.6x | 2.6x | — | — | 2.7x | 2.3x | 3.3x | 3.6x | 3.6x | 2.4x | 2.2x | 3.2x | 3.6x | 3.5x |
| Effective tax rate | 43.3% | 32.8% | 24.7% | 15.3% | 11.0% | 7.2% | 19.0% | 13.8% | 2.4% | −9.5% | −0.0% | 7.1% | 9.3% | 5.4% | 5.9% | 10.1% | 13.7% | 13.0% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 11.7% | 11.6% | 11.8% | 11.4% | 12.4% | 10.9% | 10.4% | 9.4% | 9.6% | 9.9% | 9.6% | 9.7% | 8.7% | 9.4% | 9.4% | 9.2% | 8.8% | 8.7% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 14.5% | 17.5% | 21.4% | 19.8% | 21.6% | 23.8% | 15.3% | 11.8% | 12.1% | 12.3% | 13.1% | 12.8% | 14.7% | 19.4% | 18.0% | 15.7% | 15.8% | 15.9% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 240.0% | 180.8% | 162.2% | 132.8% | 158.6% | 140.6% | 209.9% | 211.1% | 171.3% | 229.3% | 146.3% | 168.6% | 134.1% | 103.2% | 197.1% | 164.1% | 149.6% | 119.5% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 0.0% | 0.0% | 34.7% | 55.8% | 78.8% | 49.1% | 103.8% | 92.6% | 86.6% | 107.0% | 84.9% | 114.1% | 88.4% | 153.8% | 202.7% | 134.2% | 125.7% | 98.3% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 36.0% | 63.9% | 89.5% | 49.4% | 66.3% | 34.9% | 49.4% | 43.9% | 86.7% | 54.9% | 58.8% | 69.6% | 66.0% | 150.0% | 102.8% | 81.8% | 93.7% | 104.1% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 | 2026 Q3Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin | 42.4% | 48.9% | 45.6% | 45.4% | 42.4% | 45.3% | 46.2% | 45.6% |
| Net margin | 48.3% | 19.1% | 14.0% | 31.4% | 30.0% | 31.4% | 31.6% | 27.5% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 29.7% | 37.6% | 37.2% | 36.6% | 31.0% | 34.7% | 42.4% | 35.7% |
| Current ratio | 0.45 | 0.55 | 0.61 | 0.59 | 0.40 | 0.30 | 0.35 | 0.35 |
| Debt to equity | >999% | >999% | >999% | 942.1% | >999% | >999% | 999.8% | >999% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 9.5% | 9.3% | 8.9% | 8.6% | 8.6% | 9.4% | 8.5% | 8.2% |
Moat
Strong moat
How hard American Tower's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 4 / 20
Net income has been a median 4.1% of total assets over 10 years.
- Durability 20 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 34.4%; its worst year was 26.3%.
- Cash conversion 20 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 35.4% of revenue.
- Discipline 16 / 20
The diluted share count rose 3.6% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 1.6% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
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