Digital Realty Posts Record Bookings, Raises Full-Year Outlook
The data-center REIT signed leases expected to generate $707 million in annualized rent, a company record, and lifted its 2026 Core FFO guidance to $8.00-$8.10 a share.
Digital Realty Trust (DLR), the data-center real estate investment trust, reported first-quarter Core funds from operations of $2.04 a share, a 15% increase from $1.77 a year earlier and a 10% jump from the prior quarter. The results were anchored by a record quarter for new bookings, driven by a single outsized hyperscale lease that pushed the company to raise its full-year financial targets.
Total revenue reached $1.6 billion, up 16% year over year, while Adjusted EBITDA rose to $920 million, a 16% annual gain and a 7% increase from the fourth quarter. The company's portfolio occupancy climbed to 90.1%, extending a multi-quarter expansion trend, with occupied megawatts growing 11% year over year to 2,725.
The quarter's defining result was $707 million in annualized GAAP base rent from signed bookings at 100% share, shattering the prior quarter's $400 million. Hyperscale bookings at Digital Realty's share surged to $324 million across 149.3 megawatts, up from $78 million in the fourth quarter, a leap the company attributed to the largest hyperscale lease in its history. This influx swelled the backlog of signed-but-not-commenced leases to $1.8 billion in annualized rent at 100% share, more than doubling from the prior quarter.
The composition of that backlog reflects a shift in deal structure. The weighted-average lag between signing and commencement stretched to 19 months, up from eight months in the prior two quarters, a function of the longer lead times inherent in larger hyperscale agreements. Meanwhile, smaller enterprise and interconnection bookings at Digital Realty's share edged up to $98 million, continuing a steady upward trajectory from $85 million in the third quarter.
Digital Realty raised its 2026 Core FFO per share outlook to $8.00-$8.10, up from an initial guide of $7.90-$8.00. The company also lifted its revenue forecast to $6.650-$6.750 billion and its Adjusted EBITDA target to $3.650-$3.750 billion. To fund the accelerating pipeline, it increased its development capital expenditure outlook to $3.5-$4.0 billion and its long-term debt issuance forecast to $1.5-$2.0 billion.
The company continued to execute on strategic capital recycling, selling 7.3 million shares under its at-the-market equity program since year-end 2025 for net proceeds of approximately $1.3 billion, a sharp acceleration from the prior quarter. Those proceeds helped fund a series of expansion moves. Digital Realty increased its ownership stake in African data-center operator Teraco to 77% from 61% by purchasing a 16% minority interest for roughly $650 million, principally through stock issuance. Since its 2022 acquisition, Teraco's revenue has more than doubled to $352 million, with its in-place IT capacity growing to 126 megawatts from 75 megawatts.
The company also agreed to acquire Columbia Capital for approximately $485 million, a deal that scales its Strategic Private Capital platform to more than $9 billion in fund commitments. Separately, Digital Realty entered a new market with the purchase of roughly 1,440 acres near Kansas City for about $475 million, a site it plans to develop with 600 megawatts of utility power by early 2028, rising to two gigawatts at full build-out. The combined transactions were funded principally through the issuance of 6.3 million shares at a weighted average price of $197.54.