This REIT Is Today's Best S&P 500 Stock -- Barrons.com

By Kit Norton

Digital Realty Trust stock took the S&P 500's top spot on Friday after the data-center real estate investment trust scored an earnings beat and raised its full-year outlook.

Shares advanced 14% to $203.97, on track to log their best daily percentage gain since March 23, 2009, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

After Thursday's market close, the REIT reported adjusted core funds from operations of $2.13 a share, above the $1.87 from a year ago and Wall Street's expectation of $1.98. Total revenue increased 29% to $1.92 billion; the analyst consensus was $1.66 billion, according to FactSet.

Digital Realty also increased this year's core-funds-from-operations range to $8.15 to $8.20, up from $8 to $8.10. Wall Street forecast $8.03, according to FactSet.

On the earnings call, CEO Andy Power said demand for data center buildout remains strong around the world.

Power pointed out that AI data centers are driving double-digit bottom- line growth for the REIT.

"We are focused on extending this runway for years to come," he said.

Wall Street analysts broadly agree that the AI boom will keep driving strong financials for the handful of REITs that own data centers. Digital Realty Trust is the market's second largest player, behind Equinix.

The data centers that the REITs focus on -- collocation centers -- are in particular demand.

In the range of five to 10 megawatts, collection centers are smaller than AI data centers built by hyperscalers, which can range from hundreds of megawatts to a gigawatt.

And collection centers stand to benefit as AI usage transitions from model training to running AI tasks.

Write to Kit Norton at kit.norton@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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July 24, 2026 13:01 ET (17:01 GMT)