Equinix Expectations Multiple Coming in Around 17%

By David Gross

The expectations multiple is at work again this afternoon, with Equinix shooting up 7% to over $82 after hours after revenue came in 4/10th of one percent over the midpoint of the guidance range it gave three weeks ago.  So it lost over a third of its value after guiding down 2%, and has gotten 7% back after coming .4% higher, an expectations multiple of around 17 in each case.

Separately, F5 Networks is up 3% after hours after reporting revenue of $254 million, or 4% higher than the guidance midpoint of $244.5 million.   While this is an expectations multiple of just .75, F5 has rallied 17% over the last week, boosted by Riverbed's stronger-than-expected report.

Either way, this is simply manic buying and panic selling in action.  In addition to Equinix and F5, it's happened over the last few months with Mellanox, Riverbed, and PLX Technologies.   Wall Street is simply not able to handle the fundamentals of the data center industry calmly.