Zacks Upgrades Equinix to "Outperform"

By David Gross

I'd rather read the Internal Revenue Code than a typical sell-side research note.   At least the I.R.S. is specific, and doesn't create buzzwords and catchphrases like "first mover", "secular growth", and "low hanging fruit".   And even though we've had a series of tax reforms through the years, no one's ever referred to a "next generation" tax code .   Also, when it tells you to do something, the tax collection agency is far better at telling you what to do next than an investment research firm.  "You owe us" leaves far less doubt about where to send your money than the analyst note informing you that a stock is a "near-term accumulate".  

In the tradition of vague analyst-speak, Zacks recently announced it had upgraded Equinix from neutral to outperform.   Its reasoning - the company beat consensus revenue by 0.4%,  issued encouraging guidance, and is still expanding.   No wait, that's not quite right.  It was "continuous efforts to expand the current facilities".   Not sure how to interpret this.    I mean, I've been to the Ashburn campus in the last few days and any effort - continuous or not - to expand DC2 will push them through the pine trees and into DFT's ACC4 building. 

The note then goes through Equinix's financial ratios, remarks how it's well-positioned or something, but I can't tell you what it said after that because I received an e-mail about a Nigerian prince leaving me the sum of exactly $1,307,465.27, which was a lot more interesting.  And specific!

Equinix is up, or in Wall Street language "moving in positive territory" by 57 cents this afternoon, on very light volume of 400,000 shares.