How activist Elliott could use its data center know-how to amplify returns at Equinix
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Activist Elliott Investment Management brings a unique expertise on data centers to Equinix.
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6 min read
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real estate
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August 2, 2025
11:09 AM
CNBC
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In this articleEQIX your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTInside one of Equinix's internal operations at Equinix Data Center in Ashburn, Virginia, on May 9, 2024.Amanda Andrade-Rhoades | The Washington Post | Getty ImagesCompany: Equinix Inc (EQIX): Equinix is a real estate investment trust and operator of 270 data centers in 75 metro areas around the globe, viding carrier-neutral collocation and interconnection services to networks, cloud viders, enterprises and hyperscalers
The company's platform combines a global foot of International Exchange (IBX) and xScale data centers that support a customer's need to implement, operate and maintain its collocated deployments
Equinix's data centers are primarily located in key end-user in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions.Stock Market Value: $75.53B ($771.75 per )Stock Chart IconStock chart iconEquinix s in 2025Activist: Elliott Investment ManagementOwnership: n/aAverage Cost: n/aActivist ary: Elliott is a very successful and astute activist investor
The firm's team includes analysts from leading private equity firms, engineers and operating partners – former nology CEOs and COOs
When evaluating an investment, the firm also hires specialty and general management consultants, expert cost analysts and industry specialists
Elliott often watches companies for many years before and have an extensive stable of impressive board candidates
Elliott has historically focused on strategic activism in the nology sector and has been very successful with that strategy
However, over the past several years its activism group has grown
The firm has been doing a lot more governance-oriented activism and creating value from a board level at a much larger breadth of companies.What's happeningElliott has taken a position in Equinix.Behind the scenesEquinix is a REIT and operator of 270 data centers in 75 metro areas around the globe, viding carrier-neutral collocation and interconnection services to networks, cloud viders, enterprises and hyperscalers
Companies are increasingly relying on data, and the most efficient solution has been utilizing cloud services such as Equinix
The high costs associated with building and maintaining in-house data centers combined with fluctuating data needs allows colocation companies Equinix to thrive
Colocation data centers allow users to rent out space for their hardware, rather than using their own space for this purpose
Within that market, Equinix has differentiated through their globally interconnected data centers located near top end-user , making its offerings sticky for data viders
Despite this, between June 24 and June 26, Equinix's price fell 17.75%
This drop was in response to the company's Analyst Day, where Equinix revealed higher-than-expected capital expenditures of $3.3 billion for 2025 and $4 billion to $5 billion annual from 2026 to 2029 as well as a downgraded forecast for adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) to 5% to 9%
Previously, it was a range of 7% to 10%.This increase in capex and drop in AFFO spooked inexperienced and short-term investors, but this was an opportunity for experienced long-term investors Elliott Investment Management, which announced that it has increased its position in Equinix since it originally disclosed a 0.15% position in the company in the firm's last 13F
It is important to note that Elliott has tremendous experience with data centers
Everyone knows Elliott as one of the most lific activist investors today, but what sets the firm apart here is its experience as an investor, director and owner/operator of data center es
Elliott ran an activist campaign at data center operator Switch in 2021, where the investor settled for a board seat for Elliott senior portfolio manager Jason Genrich
The firm ultimately exited Switch via a sale with a 48.33% return versus -14.97% from the Russell 2000 over the same period
But more important is Elliott's experience and perspective as an owner and operator of UK-based Ark Data Centers since 2012
This not only gives the firm unique experience but more of a d perspective with management that could be welcoming of more of an amicable relationship here.So, when the market saw the capex as a drain on cash flow that will not pay off for two to three years while the data centers are being built and leased, investors Elliott saw it as a response to increased demand
Equinix has had record bookings from the tailwinds of artificial intelligence and hyperscaler growth over the past few quarters
With a 5% cost of capital, capex that will yield a 20% to 30% return is great for the long-term spects of the company
Accordingly, AFFO is expected to drop as low as 5% next year, which scares short-term and less-knowledgeable investors
But as the capex is deployed, it will rise to 8% for the next three years and eventually go back up to 9%
That will happen without any help from Elliott
But there are ways that Elliott can use its knowledge of the industry and experience as an activist and operator to expedite and amplify those returns
First, Equinix could better communicate its plans to the market
Given the reaction to the company's Analyst Day, Equinix could ly benefit from imved market communications around its capex plan, AI strategy and long-term growth forecasts
Specifically, while Equinix doesn't host AI model training, it has a unique opportunity to play a central role in AI inferencing – or deploying AI models to end users
As AI matures, the demand for inferencing will increase, and Equinix is well positioned to benefit as the largest third-party data center vider in the world with deeply interconnected datacenters in key end-user
There are also opportunities for the company to optimize its cost structure and lower interest expenses
Management has already taken certain steps in this direction and are targeting margin growth of 300 basis points from 49% to 52% by 2029 – the highest target ever set by the company
However, this is still an arguably conservative estimate, as many peers, including its closest peer, Digital Reality Trust (DRL), have higher margins than that
Additionally, a little financial engineering could decrease the company's interest rate paid and imve on the margin Equinix's AFFO per- growth.Historically, Equinix has commanded a premium multiple, and its performance has moved almost in line with DRL
However, since its Analyst Day, Equinix's returns have underperformed DRL by apximately 11 percentage points, and the company now trades at a slightly discounted 24-times enterprise value/EBITDA compared to 29-times for DRL
The company is on the right path but could use a little help from an experienced investor Elliott in executing its plan and communicating it to the market
Elliott could do this as an active holder or with a board seat
Because of the firm's industry experience and similar perspective to management, we would not be surprised to see it invited on to the board before the next annual meeting in May 2026.Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional re service on holder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist 13D investments.
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