How comparing works here

How do I compare two companies?

Type the tickers into the box above — up to five at once. Every row is read from the companies' own annual filings, so a comparison shows the same measure computed the same way for each of them rather than whatever each company chose to highlight.

Can I compare an ETF with a stock?

Yes, and the table changes to suit. Two funds are compared on cost, income, spread and record, because revenue growth and debt mean nothing for a fund. A fund against a company shows only what both of them have.

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Put up to 4 companies, funds, commodities or coins next to each other — health, valuation, growth and performance.

Every row is computed the same way for every column, from each company's own annual filing, so a comparison is not a collection of whichever figures each of them chose to put in a press release. Funds are compared on what a fund is actually judged on: cost, income, spread and record.

Relative performance

Rebased so every symbol starts at 0%

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Side by side

Latest annual figures from each company's filings

MetricAMTAMERICAN TOWER CORP /MA/CCICROWN CASTLE INC.SBACSBA COMMUNICATIONS CORPMedian of the restexcluding AMT
TypeCompanyCompanyCompany
Price
$177.64▼ 5.92 (3.23%)
$78.65▼ 2.49 (3.07%)
$173.41▼ 7.56 (4.18%)
Health scoreComposite of profitability, growth, debt and accounting quality.8.7/106.0/107.3/106.7/10
Market value$82.84B$34.21B$18.32B
Revenue$935.9M$215.0M$244.5M
Profit$2.63B$444.0M$1.05B
Revenue growthChange in sales versus the prior year.20.8%12.0%59.9%36.0%
Gross marginShare of sales left after the direct cost of producing them.—47.4%868.8%458.1%
Operating marginShare of sales left after running the business, before interest and tax.517.8%965.1%549.2%757.2%
Profit marginProfit kept from each dollar of sales.280.9%206.5%430.9%318.7%
Free cash flow marginCash left after capital spending, as a share of sales.404.3%1337.2%436.2%886.7%
Return on equityProfit against the owners' stake in the company.72.0%-27.2%-21.7%-24.4%
Return on invested capital (approx.)Operating profit after tax against equity plus debt, less cash. Cash here excludes short-term investments, so this runs low for cash-rich companies.10.6%6.5%14.6%10.5%
P/E ratioPrice paid per dollar of annual profit.31.51x77.06x17.39x47.22x
EV / EBITDA (approx.)Market value plus debt less cash, against operating profit before depreciation. Cash excludes short-term investments, so this runs high for cash-rich companies.17.22x22.15x18.93x20.54x
Price to book22.68x-20.93x-3.78x-12.35x
Debt to equityTotal liabilities compared with owners' stake.14.47x-20.28x-3.38x-11.83x
Piotroski F-ScoreNine checks of financial strength. Higher is stronger.7/87/97/97.0
Bankruptcy riskAltman Z-Score zone.n/a for banksn/a for banksn/a for banks

How AMT compares with the others

  • AMT's operating margin of 517.8% is lower than the median of the other companies selected (757.2%).
  • Its revenue grew more slowly than the median of the other companies selected: 20.8% against 36.0%.
  • It trades at a lower P/E than the median of the other companies selected: 31.5x against 47.2x.
  • Its liabilities are higher relative to equity than the median of the other companies selected: 14.5x against -11.8x.

Measured against the other companies entered, from each one's latest annual filing. A difference describes the companies; it does not rank them.