Of all of the strong and steady growth stories seen on Wall Street over the past five years, American Tower Corp. — a company founded by the late Steve Dodge — has perhaps the best success story. In June 2014, shares were approaching $90. Now, they are over $200 a share.
As of 10:33am Eastern, AMT shares were up $1.24 to $204.16.
That’s another record high for American Tower, which began the year at $156.74 and has been on a steady rise since Jan. 2 — and, for that matter, for better part of a decade.
The 2008 recession put a break on growth. But, since November 2008, when a $27.24 price was seen, it been nothing but upward momentum for a company with a multinational array of broadcast and wireless services towers.
With a 1-year target estimate of $192.50, AMT is already past that mark, and analysts could bump up those estimates as a result of its continued growth.
What’s driving AMT and other tower companies? CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer says cell tower owners are in a “raging bull market mode.” Thank 5G rollout efforts fueled by the FCC. “Once you build a tower, you can just add another antenna to it when you pick up a new client, so the margins are terrific.”
