Here are four things about Lamar which SignValue discovered after reading Lamar Advertising’s 125 page 2025 10k.

Digital Leads the way.

Lamar’s digital revenues and logo revenues increased 7% in 2025 although digital revenues made a much larger contribution to Lamar’s total revenue gain.  Static billboard revenues grew 1% and transit revenue declined 4%.   The addition of 500 digital billboards in 2025 is paying off.

Revenues Grow, Employees Don’t

Lamar runs a tight ship.  It uses industry downturns to prune expenses.  Look what happened to the employee count between 2019 and 2020.  It keeps tight controls during growth periods.  2025 was no different.  Revenues increased 2.7% during 2025 while expenses increased only 2.4%.    Revenues have increased 45% since 2019 but the company has 100 fewer employees today than it did in 2019.

A return to M&A

Lamar ramped up capital spending in 2025 after a pause in 2024 to pay down debt.  Acquisitions increased from $45 million in 2024 to $339 million in 2025.  Cash acquisitions made up $191 million million of 2025 acquisitions and the Verde upreit accounted for $144 million of 2025 acquisitions.  We expect to see $200-300 million in acquisitions from Lamar in 2026.  The company has already closed $40 million in acquisitions in the first two months of 2026.

More Easements

Lamar is quietly buying easements.  The number of Lamar-owned billboard sites increased by 300 (3%) to 11,200 in 2025 while the number of Lamar-leased billboard sites stayed constant at 71,500.  Lamar owns land under almost one-seventh of it’s billboards.  Lamar CEO Sean Reilly is on record as saying that Lamar tries to buy an easement under billboards that it wants to convert to digital.  We think this creates a significant long term advantage versus the other public out of home companies because lease costs will not increase as revenues increase.

If you have questions, contact one of SignValue’s experienced analysts for a free and confidential consultation at info@signvalue.com or call 480-657-8400.