PLD vs AMT: E-Commerce Warehouses vs 5G Cell Towers: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Prologis and American Tower are two of the premier infrastructure REITs, each benefiting from powerful secular demand trends. PLD is the dominant logistics real estate platform riding e-commerce and supply chain modernization. AMT is the essential wireless infrastructure play benefiting from 5G densification and global connectivity expansion. Both offer long-duration, inflation-linked revenue streams through lease escalators.
This PLD vs AMT comparison contrasts two infrastructure REIT models: Prologis monetizes the physical supply chain of e-commerce, while American Tower monetizes the wireless infrastructure of mobile connectivity. Both are structurally advantaged, but their growth drivers, capital intensity, and yield profiles differ.
AMT holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. PLD has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+28.70% vs -16.09%), though AMT has the better forward P/E setup (25.05x vs 41.42x for PLD). On fundamentals, PLD is growing revenue faster (12.30%), while AMT maintains the higher operating margin (45.41%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for AMT (+22.70%) than for PLD (+12.25%).
- Want exposure to the dominant global logistics real estate platform with unmatched scale and quality
- Believe e-commerce penetration, supply chain reconfiguration, and nearshoring will sustain warehouse demand
- Value the embedded rent growth from large mark-to-market spreads as in-place leases roll to market rates
- Prefer a REIT with development capabilities that create value beyond passive portfolio ownership
- Want exposure to essential wireless infrastructure with contractual rent escalators and high renewal rates
- Believe 5G densification and global connectivity expansion will drive multi-year lease-up on existing towers
- Prefer a REIT with a highly recurring, contract-based revenue model and minimal tenant credit risk
- Value the co-location economics of the tower model where incremental tenants generate near-pure-margin revenue
| Metric | PLD | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 50.1 | 39.4 |
| AI rank | #447 | #1158 |
| Latest close | $141.80 | $175.80 |
| 1M return | -2.00% | +5.87% |
| 6M return | +1.99% | -4.86% |
| 1Y return | +28.70% | -16.09% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | PLD | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $13.08K (+30.8%) started 2025-08-21 | $8.38K (-16.2%) started 2025-08-21 |
| 5Y ago | $13.12K (+31.2%) started 2021-08-23 | $7.65K (-23.5%) started 2021-08-23 |
| 10Y ago | $44.26K (+342.6%) started 2016-08-22 | $23.83K (+138.3%) started 2016-08-22 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | PLD | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $137.09B | $81.81B |
| Trailing P/E | 31.48 | 28.32 |
| Forward P/E | 41.42 | 25.05 |
| Price/Sales | 11.56 | N/A |
| EV/Revenue | 17.75 | 12.02 |
| Analyst target | $158.31 | $215.43 |
| Target upside | +12.25% | +22.70% |
| Metric | PLD | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 12.30% | 4.70% |
| Earnings growth | 85.30% | 138.50% |
| EPS growth | +85.30% | +138.50% |
| FCF margin | +55.99% | +26.69% |
| Operating margin | 43.03% | 45.41% |
| Profit margin | 43.58% | 31.08% |
| ROIC proxy | 7.75% | 33.91% |
| Return on equity | 7.75% | 33.91% |
| Dividend yield | 3.03% | 3.98% |
| Beta | 1.32 | 0.89 |
| Debt/equity | 63.82 | 438.72 |
| Current ratio | 0.65 | 0.35 |
| Quick ratio | 0.49 | 0.30 |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | PLD | AMT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | +30.82% | -16.18% |
| CAGR | +30.87% | -16.20% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 1.14 | -0.72 | |
| Max drawdown | 10.31% | 23.49% | |
| Max daily drop | 3.55% | 4.10% | |
| Max wkly drop | 6.73% | 8.81% | |
| 5Y | Growth | +17.81% | -31.94% |
| CAGR | +3.34% | -7.42% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.09 | -0.32 | |
| Max drawdown | 43.30% | 45.34% | |
| Max daily drop | 9.57% | 7.66% | |
| Max wkly drop | 19.46% | 13.55% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +237.07% | +89.02% |
| CAGR | +12.92% | +6.58% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.42 | 0.20 | |
| Max drawdown | 43.30% | 45.34% | |
| Max daily drop | 17.27% | 15.16% | |
| Max wkly drop | 21.91% | 18.24% |
| Category | PLD | AMT |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Prologis, Inc. | American Tower Corporation |
| Sector | Real Estate | Real Estate |
| Industry | REIT - Industrial | N/A |
| Core business | World's largest industrial REIT, owning and operating approximately 1.2 billion square feet of logistics real estate across 19 countries. Properties serve as distribution, fulfillment, and last-mile delivery hubs for e-commerce, third-party logistics, and supply chain operations. | One of the largest global REITs, owning and operating over 220,000 cell tower and communication sites across the US, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Provides essential wireless infrastructure with long-term lease contracts featuring built-in annual escalators. |
| Investor focus | Occupancy rates and rent growth, same-store NOI growth, development starts and margins, mark-to-market rent spreads, and the structural demand for logistics real estate driven by e-commerce and supply chain reconfiguration. | Organic tenant billings growth, co-location and amendment activity, 5G-driven lease-up, international tower portfolio growth, data center expansion strategy, and leverage reduction progress. |
- Dominant global logistics real estate platform with unmatched scale, quality, and geographic diversification
- Massive embedded rent growth from mark-to-market spreads as in-place leases roll to significantly higher market rents
- Structural demand tailwinds from e-commerce growth, supply chain nearshoring, and last-mile fulfillment needs
- Essential wireless infrastructure with extremely high renewal rates and contractual annual rent escalators of 3-5%
- Multi-tenant tower model benefits from co-location economics — each additional tenant adds revenue at minimal incremental cost
- 5G densification driving incremental lease amendments and new equipment installations across the existing tower portfolio
- New warehouse supply deliveries in some markets may pressure occupancy and moderate rent growth from peak levels
- Slowing e-commerce growth rates could reduce incremental warehouse demand relative to post-pandemic expectations
- Higher interest rates increase the cost of development capital and compress development margins
- Carrier consolidation or capital spending reductions can slow new lease activity and amendment growth
- International tower portfolios carry currency risk and lower per-tenant economics versus the US
- CoreSite data center acquisition shifted the business model and added leverage that is still being reduced
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