Equinix Hits $100 A Share

One sign of investor faith in the data center sector is the strong stock market performance of Equinix (EQIX), which topped $100 a share this week. Equinix shares topped the benchmark on Tuesday, and have since moved above $102 before closing Thursday at $101.07. This marks the highest price for Equinix since the company split shares after a merger at the close of 2002.

Shares of Equinix opened 2007 at $75.62 a share, and are now up 33.6 percent on the year to date. That follows on an 85.5 percent gain in 2006, when Equinix was among a field of strong-performing data center stocks along with NaviSite (NAVI), Internap (INAP), Savvis (SVVS) and Akamai (AKAM), which all had percentage gains of between 166 and 475 percent.

The $100 a share milestone is a long way from the end of 2002, when the company completed a complex series of deals with Singapore Technologies Telemedia, Pihana Pacific and its senior bond holders that provided Equinix with a cash infusion, a reduced debt load and an expanded presence in the Asia-Pacific market.

Shares of the "new Equinix" started 2003 trading at $5.50 a share, and dipped as low as $2.99 a share before beginning a lengthy climb. That upward trend has accelerated since Equinix raised its revenue guidance to account for revenues from its acquisition of IXEurope in mid-September. EQIX is up $17 since it closed at $84.05 on Sept. 20.