Equinix (EQIX Quick QuoteEQIX - Free Report) stands out as a cornerstone of the global digital infrastructure ecosystem, as digital transformation reshapes industries worldwide.

Analysts seem bullish on this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock. The estimate revision trend for 2026 funds from operations (FFO) per share indicates a favorable outlook for the company, with estimates moving north over the past month.

Over the past three months, shares of Equinix have increased 29.5%, outperforming the real estate market’s 3.6%. Given its solid fundamentals and positive estimate revisions, the stock is likely to keep performing well in the quarters ahead.

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What Makes Equinix a Solid Choice?

Solid Market Fundamentals and Recurring Revenues: Enterprises and service providers are steadily integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations and expanding their digital transformation initiatives, a trend that is expected to sustain strong demand in the near term. In this environment, Equinix’s geographically diverse portfolio of IBX data centers stands to gain from enterprises’ growing reliance on technology and the accelerated pace of digital transformation efforts.

More than 90% of its monthly recurring revenue bookings came from existing customers during the past three years, contributing to its revenue growth. Given the growing demand for data exchanges worldwide, Equinix is well-positioned to grow its revenue base. Higher revenues, along with lower costs, will expand margins and increase profitability in the long run.

Portfolio Strength: Equinix has been achieving continued business momentum with its critical mass of customers and the resultant “network effect” within its IBX centers. Direct interconnection with its networks enables customers to increase the efficiency of their IT infrastructure, remove complexities associated with infrastructure administration and management and reduce costs.

Further, the benefits provided by the Platform Equinix have led to a loyal and blue-chip customer base. Platform Equinix's global reach, low-latency interconnection to the world's networks, robust ecosystems and cloud adjacency are increasingly being recognized by both enterprises and service providers as essential elements in private AI infrastructure. As a result, Equinix is gaining importance as a preferred location for private AI infrastructure deployment, which is likely to benefit the company over the long term.

Expansion Efforts: Equinix continues focusing on acquisitions and developments to expand data-center capacity in key markets and strengthen its competitive positioning and global reach. In 2025, the company opened 16 new data centers, including new sites added via its joint ventures and acquisitions.

The company’s expansion efforts have increased its total number of IBX data center facilities to 280 as of Dec. 31, 2025. Moreover, Equinix has an encouraging development pipeline. As of January 2025, it had 52 major projects underway across 35 metros in 24 countries, including nine xScale builds. The company anticipates these development projects will deliver 55,000+ cabinets of retail capacity and 100+ MW of xScale capacity through 2028.

Balance Sheet Strength: Equinix’s robust balance sheet position enables it to capitalize on long-term growth opportunities. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company’s liquidity totaled $7.2 billion. Moreover, it enjoyed investment-grade credit ratings of BBB+ from S&P Global Ratings and BBB+ from Fitch Ratings as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, rendering it favorable access to the debt market.

Favorable Dividend: Solid dividend payouts remain the biggest attraction for REIT investors, and Equinix has remained committed to that. Moreover, Equinix has increased its dividend five times in the past five years, and its payout has grown 13.56% over the same period. EQIX's payout ratio currently sits at 49% of earnings. Given a robust operating platform and healthy financial position, its dividend distribution is expected to be sustainable over the long run.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Cousins Properties (CUZ Quick QuoteCUZ - Free Report) and Gladstone (LAND Quick QuoteLAND - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CUZ’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $2.93, suggesting a 3.2% increase year over year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LAND’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at 43 cents, calling for a rise of 10.3% year over year.

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.