Dallas, Texas-based Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates, and develops a vast portfolio of data centers. Valued at a market cap of $61.8 billion, the company supports mission-critical infrastructure for over 5,000 customers, including hyperscale cloud providers, financial institutions, and global enterprises.
Companies valued at $10 billion or more are typically classified as “large-cap stocks,” and DLR fits the label perfectly, with its market cap exceeding this threshold, underscoring its size, influence, and dominance within the REIT - specialty industry. In recent years, the company has pivoted to aggressively meet the surging demand for AI and high-density computing workloads, expanding its global footprint into emerging markets, while leveraging strategic joint ventures to manage the intensive capital requirements of its next-generation infrastructure build-out.
This REIT is currently trading 2% below its 52-week high of $184.79, reached on Feb. 12. Shares of DLR have rallied 9.9% over the past three months, outpacing the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s ($DOWI) 1.9% drop during the same time frame.
Moreover, on a YTD basis, shares of DLR are up 17%, compared to DOWI’s 2.1% loss. In the longer term, DLR has soared 22% over the past 52 weeks, outperforming DOWI’s 10.5% uptick over the same time frame.
To confirm its bullish trend, DLR has been trading above its 200-day moving average since early February and has remained above its 50-day moving average since mid-January.
On Feb. 5, DLR delivered stronger-than-expected Q4 results, sending its shares up 4.2% in the following trading session. Due to higher rental revenues, the company’s total operating revenue increased 13.8% year-over-year to $1.6 billion, surpassing consensus estimates by 3.2%. Moreover, its core FFO came in at $1.86 per share, up 7.5% from the same period last year and 1.6% ahead of analyst expectations.
DLR has outperformed its rival, Equinix, Inc. (EQIX), which gained 8.6% over the past 52 weeks. However, it has lagged EQIX’s 23.6% YTD rise.
Given DLR’s recent outperformance, analysts remain moderately optimistic about its prospects. The stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy” from the 32 analysts covering it, and the mean price target of $194.24 suggests an 8.4% premium to its current price levels.
