Equinix's Q1 AFFO & Revenues Beat Estimates, '25 View Raised

Equinix Inc.’s EQIX first-quarter 2025 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share of $9.67 outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.96. Moreover, the figure improved 9.1% from the prior-year quarter.

Results reflect higher revenues and expanding margins, led by strong demand for digital infrastructure and services. At year-end 2024, Equinix had total interconnections of more than 486,000, rising 3.8% year over year. The company also raised its outlook for 2025.

Total quarterly revenues of $2.23 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.22 billion. Moreover, the top line increased 4.6% year over year.

Per Adaire Fox-Martin, CEO and president of Equinix, “Demand for our digital infrastructure and services remains robust. This, together with a healthy balance sheet and customer momentum across a full breadth of geographies, industries, segments, and products, reaffirms our confidence in our strategy and ability to create even greater value.”

EQIX’s First Quarter in Detail

Recurring revenues were $2.087 billion, up 3.8% from the year-ago quarter. Our projection for the metric was $2.069 billion. Non-recurring revenues rose 17.9% to $138 million. We estimated the metric to be $143.5 million.

Revenues from the Americas, the EMEA and the Asia Pacific rose 6.6%, 2.2% and 4.3% to $1.001 billion, $743 million and $481 million, year over year, respectively.

Adjusted EBITDA came in at $1.067 billion, up 7.6% year over year. We projected the metric at $1.050 billion. The adjusted EBITDA margin was reported at 48%.

AFFO rose 12.3% from the year-ago period to $947 million.

EQIX spent $26 million on recurring capital expenditure in the first quarter, up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Recurring capital expenditure was 1.2% of revenues in the reported quarter. Non-recurring capital expenditure was $724 million, up 5.5% year over year.

EQIX’s Balance Sheet Position

Equinix had $7.6 billion of available liquidity as of March 31, 2025. This comprised cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and its undrawn revolver. It excludes restricted cash.

As of March 31, 2025, total debt was around $18.2 billion. Its net leverage ratio was 3.4, and the weighted average maturity was seven years as of March 31, 2025.

EQIX’s Dividend

Concurrent with its first quarter earnings, Equinix’s board of directors announced a quarterly cash dividend of $4.69 per share. The dividend will be paid out on June 18 to shareholders on record as of May 21, 2025.

2025 Guidance Revision by EQIX

For the second quarter of 2025, Equinix projects revenues between $2.244 billion and $2.264 billion, implying a 1% increase over the prior quarter. The adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $1.095-$1.115 billion.

The company has raised its 2025 AFFO per share guidance, which is now expected between $37.36 and $38.17. This suggests a 7-9% increase from the previous year. This is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $37.23.

For 2025, Equinix estimates generating total revenues in the band of $9.175-$9.275 billion, indicating growth of 5-6% from 2024 on an as-reported basis. Management predicts an adjusted EBITDA in the range of $4.471-$4.551 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 49%, around 210 basis points improvement over the previous year.

EQIX’s Zacks Rank

Equinix carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Equinix, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Equinix, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Equinix, Inc. Quote

Performance of Other REITs

Digital Realty Trust DLR reported a first-quarter 2025 core FFO per share of $1.77, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.73. The FFO also increased 6% year over year.

The quarterly results reflected steady leasing momentum with better rental rates amid rising demand. However, higher operating expenses undermined the performance to an extent. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

SBA Communications Corporation SBAC reported a first-quarter 2025 adjusted FFO per share of $3.18, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12. However, the figure implies a drop of 3.3% from the prior-year quarter.

SBAC’s results reflected a significant improvement in site-development revenues during the quarter. However, higher costs and interest expenses undermined the performance to some extent.

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).

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