Jeffrey Stoops
Analyst · JPMorgan
Thanks, Mark and good morning everyone. As you’ve heard we started the year with solid results, exceeding either the midpoint or the high end of our guidance across almost all key financial metrics. Organic leasing activity and strong expense control were the primary reasons for our outperformance. We continued to see solid demand across our entire portfolio both domestic and international as well as in our services segment. Projections of smartphone penetration and use of wireless data remain robust. Corporations as varied as Google, Facebook, IBM, General Motors and Microsoft have materially increased their focus on and investment in wireless which is expected to further increase usage. Satisfying this type of growth will require additional network capacity either in the form of more spectrum, more infrastructure or as has historically been the case, both. Carrier willingness to invest in additional network capacity has been well evidenced recently with the AWS-3 spectrum auction in the US as well as other spectrum auctions internationally. We expect solid levels of activity for years to come as carriers increase [ph] their network capacity as use of wireless data, including voice over LTE marches ever higher. The revenue opportunities for SBA from the AWS-3 spectrum auction alone should last for years once deployment has begun which we expect sometime in 2016. After that is the planned 600 MHz auction which we think will bring similar opportunities to SBA. The need for and the catalyst behind additional network investment continue on and we see no end in sight. These dynamics are at play in all our markets both domestically and internationally. In the first quarter, we experienced solid leasing demand across our entire portfolio both domestic and international. Same tower cash leasing revenue growth compared to the year ago prior period was 10.5% on a gross constant currency basis and 7.5% on a net of churn basis, including iDEN related churn. Our domestic same tower growth rate was 10.8% on a gross basis and 7.3% on a net basis while our international organic growth rate was 10% both gross and net on a currency neutral basis. Our international growth rate reflects the initial inclusion of 2100 low-cost wireline towers we purchased in Brazil and our initial Oi acquisition. We attribute our leasing success to a combination of quality assets, strong execution, good contracts and excellent demand from our customers. In the first quarter, in the US the leasing demand environment was similar to that which we experienced in the fourth quarter of 2014 and consistent with our expectations when we first put forth our 2015 outlook in November. Solid but below the record activity levels we saw in the first three quarters of 2014. In total we executed high numbers of both new tenant leases and amendments. Revenue from new leases was greater than that from amendments and represented approximately 60% of the incremental leasing revenue in the United States. Verizon and T-Mobile represented the majority of our new business in the quarter. AT&T was active but at reduced levels compared to the year ago period. The reduction in activity with AT&T was expected and it’s not surprising or concerning given the large amounts invested by AT&T in the prior 36 months. Contributions from Sprint due to its 2.5 GHz and Clearwire upgrade projects remained about the same as the last several quarters with an increasing amount of discussion around Sprint's next-generation network plans. Our backlogs continue to be healthy. We continue to expect that leasing activity levels will be higher in the second half of the year which depending on timing may or may not impact 2015 results. At a minimum this would bode well for 2016. We continue to see strong activity in our international markets. As expected, new leases represented the majority of the activity contributing approximately 80% of the total incremental international leasing revenue added in the quarter. International cash leasing revenue and tower cash flow growth grew materially year-over-year once again primarily due to portfolio growth. International tower cash flow margins were strong although below year-earlier margins due to the two Oi acquisitions we closed last year. GAAP requires us to mark-up our revenue and expenses by the amount of ground lease expenses reimbursed to us by our customers, so the true economic cash flow margins in Brazil are much higher. I continue to be pleased with the progress we're making in Brazil and look forward to continuing our positive momentum. While we are disappointed with the negative movement of the Brazilian real against the US dollar and the resulting impact on our 2015 outlook, we remain convinced that Brazil will be an excellent long-term investment. While the near-term economic picture in Brazil is challenging, demographic trends, smartphone sales, network needs, new spectrum and the competitive carrier dynamic all lead us to continue to believe that Brazil will be a growth market for network investment for many years to come. Our investment focus for Brazil for the remainder of the year will likely focus on new builds and smaller acquisitions and we would like to reinvest all Brazilian reais we are generating back into the business. Our services segment produced another quarter of strong results for us in the first quarter, once again with the primary contributor being Sprint as well as solid activity levels with T-Mobile and Verizon. We expect a steady services segment contribution through all of 2015. Our operational performance across the entire company was very strong. In the first quarter we posted record tower cash flow margins in the US of 81.9%. Strong tower cash flow and services margins drove our adjusted EBITDA margin to a record 68.5%. We think to have produced that level of margin while growing materially internationally and increasing SG&A expense to manage that international growth is a real accomplishment. The strong adjusted EBITDA results we had in the first quarter drove our equally strong AFFO and AFFO per share results. Our updated 2015 outlook reflects essentially the same views on carrier activity, organic growth rates and services as we put forth in November, increased for some additional investment portfolio growth but decreased to a greater extent from unfavorable changes in the Brazilian real to US dollar exchange rate. Our 2015 outlook now contemplates approximately 9% gross, same tower cash revenue growth on a constant currency basis before iDEN churn. We have included no material contribution in 2015 from DISH, Public Safety or any other customer that was not reasonably active in 2004. Our balance sheet remains in great shape and additional capital, if needed, remains readily available. We intend to continue our balance sheet strategy and maintain our existing leverage targets as we believe them to contribute materially to shareholder value creation. We have returned our focus on capital allocation back toward portfolio growth and share repurchases. With respect to portfolio growth, we will look both domestically and internationally and believe that we will continue to find attractive opportunities that will meet our investment requirements. Our primary focus remains in the Western Hemisphere. Our new tower build activities are off to a good start and we are reaffirming our goal of 5% to 10% portfolio growth in 2015 while maintaining our target leverage levels. If we are successful in consummating some additional acquisitions, I would expect our 2015 outlook to increase. I want to thank all of our employees for their hard work in the first quarter and our customers for continuing to entrust us with their business. We look forward to continued success as we move through 2015. And Christie, at this time we’re ready for questions.