Dec. 19, 2003 -- Share prices of publicly-held data center companies have continued their gains in recent weeks, extending a rally that began in earnest last spring.
Setting the pace is Equinix, which operates carrier-neutral Internet exchange facilities and has gained significant market traction in the wake of a January restructuring. Shares of the Foster City, Calif, company have surged nearly 700 percent since May 1, toppinga list of six data center companies whose gains in that period top 100 percent.
While Equinix shares have been appreciating since the summer, Navisite and Internap have gotten a boost from positive news in recent weeks.
On Nov. 28, NaviSite announced that the New York State Department of Labor is adding $52 million to its existing hosting contractfor America's Job Bank. NaviSite shares jumped to $5 to $7 that day, and have briefly traded a shigh as $10. NaviSite closed Thursday at $7.20, up 471 percent from May 1.
NaviSite is the primary operating unit of the US hosting assets controlled by Unicorn Holdings, whose principals founded Global Switch. In the past 18 months, the company has bought the assets of COLO.COM, Applied Theory, NaviSite, Avasta, Conxion and Interliant.
Shares of Internap got a boost from its earnings report, narrowing its net loss by $7.3 million as it showed improvement in both operating expenses ($5.6 million lower) and revenue ($1.7 million higher). The company has added more than 350 customers in the past 12 months, for a total of 1,566.