DLR vs AMT Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
DLR and AMT are both infrastructure REITs but their demand cycles have diverged. Digital Realty benefits from AI and cloud demand that has tightened data center supply and lifted renewal pricing. American Tower depends on mobile carrier network spending, which slowed after major upgrade cycles completed, though its escalator-driven leases keep revenue predictable regardless.
Use this DLR vs AMT comparison to weigh growth against contractual predictability. Digital Realty offers exposure to the strongest current infrastructure demand, funded with heavy capital spending. American Tower offers escalator-driven revenue with limited near-term leasing growth and a debt load that matters more when rates are high.
AMT holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. DLR has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+3.84% vs -12.39%), though AMT has the better forward P/E setup (25.37x vs 64.15x for DLR). On fundamentals, DLR is growing revenue faster (29.90%), while AMT maintains the higher operating margin (45.41%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +20.41% for DLR and +21.28% for AMT.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want direct exposure to AI and cloud-driven data center demand
- Value pricing power on renewals in a supply-constrained market
- Accept heavy development capital needs and funding dilution
- Are comfortable with hyperscale tenant concentration
- Want predictable revenue from long leases with contractual escalators
- Value very high incremental margins on adding tenants to existing towers
- Prefer essential infrastructure with minimal churn risk in most markets
- Accept muted new leasing growth and sensitivity to debt costs
| Metric | DLR | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 42.2 | 40.0 |
| AI ranki | #866 | #1095 |
| Latest closei | $178.61 | $169.03 |
| 1M returni | -7.66% | -3.81% |
| 6M returni | +1.82% | -0.29% |
| 1Y returni | +3.84% | -12.39% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | DLR | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $10.42K (+4.2%) started 2025-09-25 | $8.73K (-12.7%) started 2025-09-25 |
| 5Y ago | $15.74K (+57.4%) started 2021-09-27 | $7.7K (-23.0%) started 2021-09-27 |
| 10Y ago | $34.85K (+248.5%) started 2016-09-26 | $23.3K (+133.0%) started 2016-09-26 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | DLR | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $70.05B | $82.87B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 93.67 | 24.46 |
| Forward P/Ei | 64.15 | 25.37 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 13.27 | 12.12 |
| Analyst targeti | $223.32 | $215.70 |
| Target upsidei | +20.41% | +21.28% |
| Metric | DLR | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 29.90% | 4.70% |
| Earnings growthi | -58.70% | 138.50% |
| EPS growthi | -58.70% | +138.50% |
| FCF margini | +55.77% | +26.69% |
| Operating margini | 25.88% | 45.41% |
| Profit margini | 11.82% | 31.08% |
| ROIC proxyi | 2.91% | 33.91% |
| Return on equityi | 2.91% | 33.91% |
| Dividend yieldi | 2.54% | 3.92% |
| Payout ratioi | 238.05% | 96.01% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.04 | 0.90 |
| Debt/equityi | 67.94 | 438.72 |
| Current ratioi | 0.89 | 0.35 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.89 | 0.30 |
Over the past year, DLR and AMT have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.23), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | DLR | AMT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +4.23% | -12.74% |
| CAGRi | +4.24% | -12.76% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.17% | 26.29% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.12 | -0.56 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.18 | -0.77 | |
| Max drawdowni | 17.49% | 16.67% | |
| Current drawdowni | 12.41% | 13.12% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.65% | 8.12% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.09% | 8.93% | |
| Max daily dropi | 5.77% | 4.10% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 10.00% | 8.81% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +37.33% | -31.45% |
| CAGRi | +6.56% | -7.28% | |
| Volatilityi | 29.35% | 26.98% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.21 | -0.31 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.30 | -0.44 | |
| Max drawdowni | 48.52% | 43.81% | |
| Current drawdowni | 12.41% | 36.08% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 17.48% | 24.54% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 21.45% | 26.29% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.73% | 7.66% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 12.32% | 13.55% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +146.47% | +84.85% |
| CAGRi | +9.44% | +6.34% | |
| Volatilityi | 28.52% | 26.47% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.30 | 0.20 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.43 | 0.28 | |
| Max drawdowni | 48.52% | 45.34% | |
| Current drawdowni | 12.41% | 37.82% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.21% | 16.15% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.33% | 20.64% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.97% | 15.16% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 15.91% | 18.24% |
| Category | DLR | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Digital Realty Trust, Inc. | American Tower Corporation |
| Sector | Real Estate | Real Estate |
| Industry | REIT - Specialty | REIT - Specialty |
| Core business | Global data center REIT owning and developing facilities leased to hyperscale cloud providers, enterprises, and colocation customers, with an interconnection platform linking tenants to networks and cloud services. | Owner and operator of wireless communications towers leased to mobile carriers, with operations across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, plus a US data center business acquired through CoreSite. |
| Investor focus | Leasing volume and backlog, renewal rate increases, development pipeline and funding, power availability at key campuses, and joint venture capital recycling. | Organic tenant billings growth, carrier network spending, contractual escalators, churn from carrier consolidation, international portfolio decisions, and floating rate debt costs. |
- AI and cloud demand has tightened data center capacity, giving landlords real pricing power on renewals
- Global footprint across major metros with an interconnection layer that adds stickiness
- Large development pipeline with much of it pre-leased before completion
- Long-term leases with built-in annual escalators produce highly predictable revenue
- Adding tenants to an existing tower has very high incremental margins
- Essential infrastructure with extremely high renewal rates
- Development is capital intensive, funded with a mix of debt, equity, and joint ventures that can dilute
- Power and grid connection availability is now the binding constraint on growth in many markets
- Hyperscale tenant concentration gives large customers negotiating leverage
- Carrier capital spending drives new leasing and has been restrained after major network buildouts
- Carrier consolidation creates churn as overlapping sites are decommissioned
- Significant debt load makes interest costs a real earnings factor
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