Lamar Advertising (LAMR) Q3 2026 Earnings Report

The call was strongly positive, with accelerating revenue, record October performance, raised AFFO guidance, expanding EBITDA margins, robust digital and political advertising growth, active M&A, increased shareholder distributions and strong liquidity and leverage metrics. The main challenges were expenses running above the original budget, weakness in healthcare and amusements, and frothy acquisition multiples requiring discipline.

Lamar raised full year diluted AFFO per share guidance to a range of $8.87 to $8.97, an increase of $0.10 at the midpoint and representing, at the midpoint, an increase of 8% over 2025; full year acquisition-adjusted operating expense growth is expected in the 4.25% to 4.75% range, total CapEx is expected to be approximately $186 million, including $65 million of maintenance CapEx, cash interest in guidance totaled $156 million assuming no change in short-term floating interest rates for the balance of the year, and cash taxes are projected to come in around $12 million. Management expects a regular cash dividend of $1.65 per share for Q4, full year regular dividends of $6.50 per share, and a special dividend likely in the range of $0.30 to $0.35 per share, bringing full year cash dividends to $6.80 to $6.85 per share; Sean also said the company anticipates recommending a special dividend of at least $0.30. Full year total leverage is expected to hover around 3 turns, with secured leverage coming in comfortably below 1x net debt to EBITDA, while 2026 political spend will top $40 million, more than double 2022 and up 40% over 2024, with nearly half of that spend showing up in Q4.