Digital Realty Raises 2026 Core FFO Outlook on Record Q3 Bookings

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR) raised its 2026 outlook after third-quarter earnings increased and leasing reached record levels across both smaller deployments and hyperscale capacity. The data-center REIT now expects Core FFO excluding net promote of $8.30 to $8.35 per share, up from its July range of $8.15 to $8.20, as strong bookings, renewal pricing and same-capital growth supported its operating performance.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2026, net income available to common stockholders rose to $185.2 million from $57.6 million a year earlier. Total operating revenue increased to $1.90 billion from $1.58 billion, while adjusted EBITDA advanced to $977.7 million from $867.8 million.

Funds from operations available to common stockholders and unitholders increased to $741.5 million from $570.1 million. Core FFO excluding net promote reached $795.3 million, or $2.10 per diluted share, compared with $656.0 million, or $1.89 per share, in the prior-year quarter. Constant-currency Core FFO excluding net promote was also $2.10 per share, reflecting what the company described as minimal foreign-exchange impact during the quarter.

Record leasing and stronger renewal pricing

Digital Realty signed leases representing $626.6 million of annualized GAAP base rent at its share, up 40% from the prior quarter and 80% from a year earlier. At 100% share, total bookings were $855 million.

Leases above 1 megawatt accounted for $474.2 million, or 76% of bookings at Digital Realty’s share. The combination of deployments from zero to 1 megawatt and interconnection generated a record $151.8 million, representing 24% of the total. The company added 155 new customer logos during the quarter and said it remained on track to surpass its initiative targeting $400 million in annual bookings from zero-to-1-megawatt deployments and interconnection.

The leasing activity lifted total backlog to a record $2.5 billion at 100% share, providing scheduled commencements over multiple years. Actual commencement dates may differ from the estimates made when leases were signed.

Renewals covering $261 million of annualized cash rental revenue produced an 11.8% overall cash rental-rate increase and a 17.0% GAAP increase. Pricing was particularly strong for deployments above 1 megawatt, where renewal rates increased 23.7% on a cash basis and 38.8% under GAAP. Digital Realty raised its full-year cash renewal-spread guidance by 100 basis points to a range of 10% to 12%.

Higher 2026 outlook

Digital Realty now projects 2026 revenue excluding promote income of $7.05 billion to $7.125 billion, compared with its July forecast of $6.85 billion to $6.95 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $3.80 billion and $3.85 billion, versus the previous $3.75 billion-to-$3.85 billion range.

The company also raised its same-capital cash net operating income growth forecast to 5.25% to 5.75%, from 4.25% to 5.25%. Constant-currency Core FFO excluding net promote is expected to range from $8.25 to $8.30 per share. Year-end portfolio occupancy guidance was maintained at an increase of 75 to 125 basis points, measured by IT load.

Management’s longer-term presentation indicated approximately 13% Core FFO growth excluding net promote at the midpoint of 2026 guidance, following 10% growth in 2025, and projected double-digit growth beyond 2026. The company cautioned that these projections depend on external factors and could vary materially.

Capacity and private-capital expansion

As of September 30, Digital Realty’s global platform included about 3 gigawatts of in-place IT capacity and approximately 10 gigawatts of future development capacity, including land and shell, for a total of roughly 13 gigawatts. Around 1.5 gigawatts was under construction. Future development capacity increased 17% from the previous quarter, with 70% of planned capacity organized in blocks exceeding 100 megawatts.

The company is also expanding private-capital funding for hyperscale development. It secured $1.4 billion of initial cornerstone commitments for a new stabilized perpetual-capital strategy, while fee income increased 107% from the prior year. Digital Realty reported more than $20 billion of available capital, including over $15 billion from development joint ventures, a closed-end fund and the perpetual-capital strategy, alongside more than $5 billion of balance-sheet liquidity.

Reported net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 5.2 times. The company estimated leverage at 4.9 times after adjusting for the expected stabilization of three fully leased Northern Virginia developments acquired in June 2026. Its debt profile had a weighted-average maturity of 4.6 years and a weighted-average coupon of 3.4%, with 89% of debt fixed-rate and 92% unsecured.

Digital Realty’s outlook remains subject to risks including weaker data-center demand, power and connectivity constraints, development delays or cost increases, customer concentration, competition, refinancing and interest-rate exposure, foreign-exchange movements, supply-chain disruption and dependence on external capital. The company also noted that forward-looking non-GAAP estimates could differ materially from corresponding GAAP results because some reconciling items cannot be forecast reliably.