Bernstein Upgrades $AMT to Outperform, PT $207 Analyst comments: "Several overhangs weigh on the AMT story today, each of which we feel is overstated. The first is satellite risk, which we wrote about yesterday. We believe that, in order to compete with terrestrial wireless solutions, direct-to-device (D2D) satellite plans will require either a low-band terrestrial deployment or an MVNO partnership to make them truly competitive for nationwide wireless. Either of these scenarios is positive for tower companies. Secondly, we anticipate rate hike(s) in the future. AMT, along with its REIT peers, is extremely sensitive to rates. We estimate a -0.87 inverse correlation with the 10-year over the last decade because of both the leverage position and the relative trade-offs against bonds. AMT has been reducing its floating-rate debt — ~4% exposure at $1.4 billion, most of which matures in 2028 — and strengthening its credit rating, mitigating the exposure that the market is already pricing. Third, the company has already taken Dish churn out of its model and is involved in litigation to claw back those revenues. The FCC has now created a $2.4 billion escrow fund to pay infrastructure providers on whom Dish has defaulted. While we believe AMT should do better than its share of this escrow account, it represents a floor should litigation fail." Analyst: Madison Rezaei