Lamar Advertising Company LAMR is proving that outdoor advertising remains a strong and relevant business. The REIT opened 2026 on a positive note, beating expectations as local demand stayed healthy and national advertising showed clear signs of recovery.
Investor interest in LAMR has also improved. The stock has gained 8.2% over the past three months, while the industry has slipped 0.6%. With solid AFFO growth, an attractive dividend and encouraging booking trends, Lamar gives investors several reasons to take a closer look.
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Analysts also seem optimistic about this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2026 FFO per share has moved northward over the past 30 days to $8.81. It also suggests an increase of 6.66% year over year.
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For investors looking for a steady REIT with advertising upside, LAMR has several things working in its favor. Here are five reasons LAMR stock looks worth buying now.
Factors That Make LAMR Stock a Solid Pick
Revenue Growth Is Picking Up: Lamar reported first-quarter net revenues of $528 million, up 4.5% from the prior year. On an acquisition-adjusted basis, revenues rose 3.9%, showing that growth was not just coming from deals. Management also said revenues increased 4.8% in April and that bookings for the rest of the second quarter looked encouraging. This matters because outdoor advertising companies depend heavily on booking visibility, and Lamar appears to have a stronger pipeline than it had at the start of the year.
National Advertising Is Recovering: National advertising was one of the strongest parts of the quarter. National revenues increased 5.8%, with programmatic revenues rising nearly 25% to about $11 million. This is important because national advertising has been uneven in recent years. A healthier national business gives Lamar another growth lever beyond its strong local advertiser base.
Digital Billboards Remain a Growth Driver: Digital remains a key growth engine. Same-board digital revenues increased 5%, and digital represented almost 31% of billboard billing in the first quarter. Lamar ended the quarter with 5,657 digital displays, up 104 from year-end 2025. Digital boards allow the company to sell space more flexibly, improve yield and attract advertisers that want faster campaign execution.
Cash Flow and AFFO Look Strong: Adjusted EBITDA rose 7.7% to $226.3 million, while AFFO increased 8% to $177.5 million. AFFO per share climbed 7.5% to $1.72. For an REIT, AFFO is especially important because it helps support dividends and future investment. Lamar also affirmed full-year AFFO guidance of $8.50 to $8.70 per share, with management suggesting an upside revision could be possible if trends continue.
Dividend Adds Appeal: Lamar paid a first-quarter dividend of $1.60 per share and expects to distribute at least $6.40 per share for the full year. Management also said a dividend increase in the back half of 2026 is likely if performance remains strong. In the past five years, the company has raised its dividend eight times. Its five-year annualized dividend growth rate is 12.27%, which is encouraging. With a solid balance sheet, roughly $701.5 million in liquidity at quarter-end and leverage near three times net debt-to-EBITDA, Lamar looks well-positioned to keep rewarding shareholders while still pursuing acquisitions.
Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Prologis, Inc. PLD and W. P. Carey Inc. WPC, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Prologis’ 2026 FFO per share suggests a 6.37% increase year over year.
The consensus mark for W. P. Carey’s 2026 FFO per share has been revised five cents upward to $5.26 over the past month.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).