(Reuters) – Real estate investment trust American Tower on Tuesday raised its forecast for annual adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) and beat second-quarter revenue guidance on the back of strong demand from its leasing business.
Demand for land leasing has surged as telecom operators continue to expand their 5G and mobile network infrastructure to meet growing customer demand.
American Tower's AFFO, a key measure of cash flow, rose more than 13% in the second quarter to $2.79 a share, driven by strong growth in the U.S. and Canada and India.
Analysts expected AFFO of $2.53, according to LSEG data.
Shares of the Boston, Massachusetts-based company rose about 2.3% in premarket trading.
American Tower, whose customers include top telecommunications companies such as T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon, reported total revenue of $2.9 billion, above LSEG's forecast of $2.82 billion.
Its real estate revenue grew 4.6% to $2.85 billion.
American Tower raised its full-year AFFO forecast to $10.48 to $10.72 per share from the previous range of $10.30 to $10.53 per share.
It also raised its net profit forecast to a range of $3.20 billion to $3.29 billion from a previous forecast of $3.07 billion to $3.16 billion.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
