Telecom Ramblings

It is quite clear by now that the colocation and datacenter sector is weathering the recession better than almost anyone in the tech space.  Switch & Data (NASDAQ:EQIX - chart, news, filings) reported first quarter earnings today and followed the lead of Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - chart, news, filings), shrugging off the majority of economic pressures.  Revenues of $47.1M were up 18% from the same quarter last year and 2.8% sequentially.  EBITDA also improved to $16.6M, up from both $15.8M last quarter and $12.6M in the same quarter last year.  The loss per share of $0.06 appears to be in-line with expectations.

Now, that’s not to say there are no economic effects, it’s just that in the datacenter space those effects do not mean a contraction but merely moderating rates of growth.   Going forward, the company maintained the guidance they gave in February for revenue of $207-210M and EBITDA of $71-73M.

Visibility in this entire segment seems to be quite good, as most revenues are recurring and there don’t tend to be many surprises.  Not yet anyway, let’s hope they keep it up.