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  "documentTitle": "American Tower (AMT)",
  "authorId": "51_Muddy_Waters",
  "authorName": "Carson C. Block",
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  "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller",
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  "presentationDate": "2013-08-01 00:00:00",
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  "notes": "The slide uses two charts to demonstrate that acquisition costs per site are trending upward while operating profit margins are volatile and trending downward, supporting the thesis that AMT's growth is driven by overpaying for assets.",
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      "text": "AMT needs to pay more money each year to drive higher EBITDA and margins.",
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      "text": "International - 2009-2012, Ex. SS in Brazil",
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      "kind": "paragraph",
      "text": "Unfortunately, one analyst asked AMT for color on how it determines how much to pay for a tower portfolio. Management completely failed to answer the question. We then entered the question queue (in part to ask that question again), but AMT never took our question.",
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      "text": "AMT needs to pay more money each year to drive higher EBITDA and margins. As we detailed in our initial report, a good portion of AMT's international business is de facto lending whereby AMT pays an above market purchase price for a tower in exchange for the carrier paying above market rent. Lending distorts growth by making revenue and EBITDA margins appear higher initially. However, rents tend to reset to market rates at lease expiration. The table below shows that AMT's international growth fell off a cliff in Q3 2012 – not coincidentally, AMT's acquisition activities have moderated since Q2 2012. Based on management's comments, we believe the moderation is due to not finding deals that are large enough, rather than a newly found prudence.",
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      "text": "3 See July 17, 2013 report pp. 22-28.",
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