Kim BoltonDigital Realty TrustDLRPAST TOP PICKJan 21, 2021

DLR is a fundamentally strong REIT, with expanding net profit margins and ROE, and it generates good free cash flows. Its yield is attractive, although its Funds From Operations (FFO) to debt have been declining over the past few years, indicating its debt levels have increased at a faster rate than FFO. It trades at a high valuation, but this can be justified given its strong fundamentals. Given a potential peak in interest rates, the underlying secular trend growth in the data center industry, and its strong fundamentals, we would be comfortable holding or adding slowly to this name.
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Buy in tranches with each increase of 0.25% in interest rates. Likes DLR.

The chart shows a nice uptrend since late May, and coming after a 2-year downtrend before peaking at $180. It's a recovery story. Is there enough interest for this to break above $120 to $140? Watch weekly closes, rather than daily closes, because there are five data points in a week.

Equinix vs. Digital Realty They're both the largest US data centres. Equinix focuses on interconnection and co-location, housing thousands of businesses within the same business centre. Digital Realty focuses on hyperscale, which provides buildings and server racks for megacaps like Google. The latter business has fewer barriers to entry and is far more competitive with less pricing power. He prefers Equinix's model.

He does not own DLR presently, but has in the past. They are involved in the data centre business. He currently owns EQIX, who partnered with BCE to manage their data centres. If you own DLR, stick with it. If you are looking at getting into the space, consider EQIX.