# Digital Realty Trust (DLR.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/DLR

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:28:03.114Z. Financial observations: FY2002–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $174.47 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 0 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.30×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.23×

- FY2017: 0.18×

- FY2018: 0.18×

- FY2019: 0.19×

- FY2020: 0.14×

- FY2021: 0.16×

- FY2022: 0.13×

- FY2023: 0.10×

- FY2024: 0.08×

- FY2025: 0.11×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 5.9pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 2.4%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 1.8%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 5.9 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 60.5%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 54.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 51.5%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 1.4%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 4.8%

- FY2017: 2.8%

- FY2018: 3.3%

- FY2019: 3.3%

- FY2020: 2.1%

- FY2021: 2.7%

- FY2022: 2.0%

- FY2023: 1.8%

- FY2024: 1.6%

- FY2025: 1.9%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.18×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $873M

- Net income, five-year total: $4.9B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 3.5%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 3.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 20.0 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: -9.4%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.00×

- FY2022: -0.97×

- FY2023: -0.70×

- FY2024: -0.72×

- FY2025: 0.48×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 3.3% vs 1.8%

- Per-share earnings: 2.14 to 3.07 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- acquired goodwill and intangibles (proxy) exceeds half of ten-year net income with low and deteriorating ROIC

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 9.6%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 5.8%

- Market cap gain: $38B

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$5.1B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 9.6%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 5.8%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 4.6%

- Per-share value change: $0.93

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $2.14

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $3.07

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.09

- Average buyback yield: 1.0%

- Buyback history: 6 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $14B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $6.9B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 3.3%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 1.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $2.83

- FY2017: $1.42

- FY2018: $1.60

- FY2019: $2.77

- FY2020: $1.36

- FY2021: $6.04

- FY2022: $1.27

- FY2023: $3.07

- FY2024: $1.82

- FY2025: $3.76

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -2.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.65×

- Restructuring years, last five: 1

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 2.9%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 1.84×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.52×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -4.0%

- FY2017: -3.6%

- FY2018: -4.4%

- FY2019: -4.0%

- FY2020: -3.7%

- FY2021: 0.0%

- FY2022: -3.1%

- FY2023: -1.6%

- FY2024: -3.7%

- FY2025: -2.2%

## Holders

- [Christopher Davis](https://gigainvestors.com/DAV): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Andreas Halvorsen](https://gigainvestors.com/vg): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Up 40% since Oct 2023 · "These investments are designed to meet rising demand for hyperscale and AI-driven infrastructure." (finance.yahoo.com, Jun 2026) · sales +10%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:38.692Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-04-24: Digital Realty lifts annual FFO forecast on strong data center demand ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/digital-realty-lifts-annual-ffo-211710786.html))

- 2025-07-24: Digital Realty Trust FFO of $1.87 beats by $0.12, raise FY25 FFO guidance ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4471758-digital-realty-trust-ffo-of-187-beats-by-012-raise-fy25-ffo-guidance?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

- 2025-10-23: Digital Realty raises annual core FFO, revenue forecasts on data center services demand ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/digital-realty-raises-annual-core-221119288.html))

- 2026-01-30: Digital Realty Trust Targets AI Demand With Malaysia Entry And Supply Deal ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/digital-realty-trust-targets-ai-001704075.html))

- 2026-04-24: DLR Q1 Earnings Beat on Leasing Momentum and AI Demand, View Raised ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/dlr-q1-earnings-beat-leasing-142200289.html))

- 2026-07-23: Digital Realty raises annual FFO forecast on robust data center demand ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/articles/digital-realty-raises-annual-ffo-205931929.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +10%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297996/000110465926015365/dlr-20251231x10k.htm; observed 2026-02-13.

- FY2016: $2.1B 

- FY2017: $2.5B 

- FY2018: $3.0B 

- FY2019: $3.2B 

- FY2020: $3.9B 

- FY2021: $4.4B 

- FY2022: $4.7B 

- FY2023: $5.5B 

- FY2024: $5.6B 

- FY2025: $6.1B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 55.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297996/000110465926015365/dlr-20251231x10k.htm; observed 2026-02-13.

- FY2016: 64.4% 

- FY2017: 63.6% 

- FY2018: 64.0% 

- FY2019: 62.8% 

- FY2020: 61.2% 

- FY2021: 59.8% 

- FY2022: 57.0% 

- FY2023: 52.6% 

- FY2024: 54.7% 

- FY2025: 55.4% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in property rentals; annual sales are USD 6.1 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297996/000110465926015365/dlr-20251231x10k.htm (filed 2026-02-13); FY2025: revenue 6112692000; grossProfit 3385955000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); DLR.US: Digital Realty Trust, Inc. brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. Platform DIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation, from cloud and digital transformation to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 55+ metros across 30+ countries on six continents. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is based in Austin, Texas.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 52.6% to 55.4% during 2023–25; it earns 2.4% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 52.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 54.7%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297996/000110465926015365/dlr-20251231x10k.htm (filed 2026-02-13); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 55.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.04774381776684987],[2017,0.028049444672013535],[2018,0.03314739161416475],[2019,0.03344069965474494],[2020,0.020979799483376013],[2021,0.026773432633377524],[2022,0.020191604637558137],[2023,0.017847910313951824],[2024,0.01626009612669939],[2025,0.018937148603773463]]; median 0.02387661605837677. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Spends 96.5% of cash earnings on expansion; earns 3.5% on new investment.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2016: growth capex 74996000; upkeep 699324000; owner earnings 426187000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.17596970344003923.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2017: growth capex 359012000; upkeep 842464000; owner earnings 248259000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.4461187711220942.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2018: growth capex 186768000; upkeep 1186896000; owner earnings 331246000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.5638347330986638.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2019: growth capex 369504000; upkeep 1163774000; owner earnings 579761000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.6373384894810102.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2020: growth capex 697687000; upkeep 1366379000; owner earnings 356398000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.9576063838742082.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2021: growth capex 1034140000; upkeep 1486632000; owner earnings 1709259000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.6050224102959235.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297996/000110465926015365/dlr-20251231x10k.htm (filed 2026-02-13); FY2025: growth capex 602368350.2027755; upkeep 2578810649.7972245; owner earnings 624414350.2027755. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.9646933162365012.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); Incremental return on capital 0.03484525032609934, from the economics test's unchanged annual inputs.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); Dividend observations: [[2016,605390000],[2017,715209000],[2018,930782000],[2019,996766000],[2020,1239318000],[2021,1379198000],[2022,1450637000],[2023,1520644000],[2024,1633247000],[2025,1728466000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own <0.1% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); DLR.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.013999999999999999 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What could break it

"Our business depends upon the demand for data centers." (SEC filing, Feb 2026)

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297996/000110465926015365/dlr-20251231x10k.htm (filed 2026-02-13); Our business depends upon the demand for data centers.

### What the price says

The price is 9.9 times annual sales.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); Closing price 174.47 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 17.574802334607977; price multiple 9.927280926308736. FY2025 cash earnings/share 1.795274288268812. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $93.43 per share

- 2016-11: $92.33 per share

- 2016-12: $98.26 per share

- 2017-01: $107.63 per share

- 2017-02: $108.00 per share

- 2017-03: $106.39 per share

- 2017-04: $114.84 per share

- 2017-05: $118.19 per share

- 2017-06: $112.95 per share

- 2017-07: $115.34 per share

- 2017-08: $118.34 per share

- 2017-09: $118.33 per share

- 2017-10: $118.44 per share

- 2017-11: $116.70 per share

- 2017-12: $113.90 per share

- 2018-01: $111.95 per share

- 2018-02: $100.64 per share

- 2018-03: $105.38 per share

- 2018-04: $105.69 per share

- 2018-05: $107.48 per share

- 2018-06: $111.58 per share

- 2018-07: $121.42 per share

- 2018-08: $124.28 per share

- 2018-09: $112.48 per share

- 2018-10: $103.26 per share

- 2018-11: $115.04 per share

- 2018-12: $106.55 per share

- 2019-01: $108.34 per share

- 2019-02: $113.12 per share

- 2019-03: $119.00 per share

- 2019-04: $117.71 per share

- 2019-05: $117.72 per share

- 2019-06: $117.79 per share

- 2019-07: $114.36 per share

- 2019-08: $123.63 per share

- 2019-09: $129.81 per share

- 2019-10: $127.04 per share

- 2019-11: $120.95 per share

- 2019-12: $119.74 per share

- 2020-01: $122.99 per share

- 2020-02: $120.11 per share

- 2020-03: $138.91 per share

- 2020-04: $149.49 per share

- 2020-05: $143.56 per share

- 2020-06: $142.11 per share

- 2020-07: $160.54 per share

- 2020-08: $155.65 per share

- 2020-09: $146.76 per share

- 2020-10: $144.30 per share

- 2020-11: $134.75 per share

- 2020-12: $139.51 per share

- 2021-01: $143.95 per share

- 2021-02: $134.73 per share

- 2021-03: $140.84 per share

- 2021-04: $154.31 per share

- 2021-05: $151.56 per share

- 2021-06: $150.46 per share

- 2021-07: $154.16 per share

- 2021-08: $163.91 per share

- 2021-09: $144.45 per share

- 2021-10: $157.81 per share

- 2021-11: $167.74 per share

- 2021-12: $176.87 per share

- 2022-01: $149.23 per share

- 2022-02: $134.92 per share

- 2022-03: $141.80 per share

- 2022-04: $146.12 per share

- 2022-05: $139.59 per share

- 2022-06: $129.83 per share

- 2022-07: $132.45 per share

- 2022-08: $123.63 per share

- 2022-09: $99.18 per share

- 2022-10: $100.25 per share

- 2022-11: $112.46 per share

- 2022-12: $100.27 per share

- 2023-01: $114.62 per share

- 2023-02: $104.23 per share

- 2023-03: $98.31 per share

- 2023-04: $99.15 per share

- 2023-05: $102.46 per share

- 2023-06: $113.87 per share

- 2023-07: $124.62 per share

- 2023-08: $131.72 per share

- 2023-09: $121.02 per share

- 2023-10: $124.36 per share

- 2023-11: $138.78 per share

- 2023-12: $134.58 per share

- 2024-01: $140.46 per share

- 2024-02: $146.81 per share

- 2024-03: $144.04 per share

- 2024-04: $138.78 per share

- 2024-05: $145.34 per share

- 2024-06: $152.05 per share

- 2024-07: $149.49 per share

- 2024-08: $151.61 per share

- 2024-09: $161.83 per share

- 2024-10: $178.23 per share

- 2024-11: $195.69 per share

- 2024-12: $177.33 per share

- 2025-01: $163.86 per share

- 2025-02: $156.32 per share

- 2025-03: $143.29 per share

- 2025-04: $160.54 per share

- 2025-05: $171.52 per share

- 2025-06: $174.33 per share

- 2025-07: $176.44 per share

- 2025-08: $167.64 per share

- 2025-09: $172.88 per share

- 2025-10: $170.41 per share

- 2025-11: $160.12 per share

- 2025-12: $154.71 per share

- 2026-01: $165.95 per share

- 2026-02: $177.20 per share

- 2026-03: $180.21 per share

- 2026-04: $200.94 per share

- 2026-05: $190.00 per share

- 2026-06: $179.58 per share

- 2026-07: $188.52 per share

- 2026-08: $185.59 per share

- 2026-09: $175.53 per share

- 2026-10: $178.14 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $32.52 per share, central $46.46 per share, high $54.57 per share

- FY2017: low $30.32 per share, central $40.78 per share, high $47.77 per share

- FY2018: low $23.09 per share, central $30.11 per share, high $35.17 per share

- FY2019: low $31.52 per share, central $40.16 per share, high $46.90 per share

- FY2020: low $18.92 per share, central $22.97 per share, high $26.75 per share

- FY2021: low $19.91 per share, central $24.08 per share, high $28.03 per share

- FY2022: low $19.97 per share, central $24.08 per share, high $28.03 per share

- FY2023: low $23.66 per share, central $27.61 per share, high $31.36 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297996/000110465926015365/dlr-20251231x10k.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-13.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.