Akamai, DuPont Fabros Are Top Performers

The second quarter of 2010 saw a retreat for the broader stock market data center, a trend that was reflected in the performance in the data center sector. The shares of most companies in the sector outperformed industry averages, with just two of the 10 stocks trailing the Dow. But data center stocks fell short of the strong performance seen in the first quarter of 2010.

The leading performers were content delivery networks, which gained on strong growth for Internet video delivery and analysts' growing comfort level about pricing risk for the CDN sector. Top performers included Akamai (AKAM), Limelight Networks (LLNW) and data center REIT DuPont Fabros (DFT).

Here’s a look at the winners and loser in the data center industry in the second quarter of 2010.

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By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 10 percent for the second quarter. The broader S.& P. 500 index and the Nasdaq both lost about 12 percent in the quarter.

For the first half of the year, Akamai was also the top performer, followed by DuPont Fabros and managed hosting provider NaviSite (NAVI), while Equinix (EQIX) trails the pack as it absorbs Switch and Data, which it acquired during the second quarter.

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We've streamlined our list a bit to focus on data center REITs and service providers, and are likely to add some new names to the list as data center companies complete IPOs that were announced in the first half of the year. We're exploring the prospect of establishing additional lists for hardware and software companies serving the sector, and are interested in reader feedback on this possibility. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.