Equinix stock jumps after Q3 beat, raised outlook and Nvidia-linked AI exchange
The US data-centre giant topped profit forecasts, lifted its 2026 revenue guidance for a third straight time and unveiled an AI inference platform, a signal worth watching for India's cloud and startup ecosystem.
Equinix shares rose 1.6% in after-hours trading to $1,023.50 after the digital infrastructure company reported third-quarter 2026 results that beat Wall Street expectations on profit, nudged past revenue estimates and came with a higher full-year forecast.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.93, well above the $4.12 analysts had pencilled in. Revenue of $2.57 billion was just ahead of the $2.56 billion estimate and 11% higher than the $2.32 billion booked a year earlier.
The more telling numbers sit beneath the headline. Equinix reported record annualised gross bookings of $533 million, up 35% year-on-year, and added 6,900 net interconnections. Interconnection revenue grew 10%, while Fabric revenue rose 24%. The company said demand from both traditional and AI workloads is driving double-digit growth in monthly recurring revenue.
On the outlook, Equinix now expects 2026 revenue of $10.325 billion to $10.365 billion, a midpoint of $10.345 billion against a consensus of $10.282 billion. It is the third consecutive guidance raise. The board also declared a quarterly dividend of $5.16 per share, payable on December 16 to shareholders of record on November 18.
Also announced was the Equinix Inference Exchange, built with NVIDIA and Together AI, aimed at helping enterprises deploy and scale AI inferencing globally on interconnected infrastructure. CEO Adaire Fox-Martin said the results reflect Equinix's differentiated position and that the company is accelerating capacity to meet broad-based demand.
The backdrop was steady but cautious. The S&P 500 closed at 7,743.98 and the Nasdaq Composite at 26,549.85 on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held rates, citing elevated inflation, strong employment and energy-price pressures.
Why it matters for Desh Flash readers: the physical backbone of AI, meaning data centres and the networks linking them, is where money is flowing. Indian startups, UPI-scale payment platforms and streamers like Netflix India all depend on such infrastructure, so strong global demand points to continued investment in capacity that can shape costs and speed for them. Investors tracking global tech sentiment will see this as a bullish data point.
Source: Investing.com