Goodman Group shines amongst Australian property companies on data-centre push

By Aaditya GovindRao and Roushni Nair

(Reuters) – Goodman Group’s inventory has been on a scorching streak this 12 months, shining shiny amongst its Australian real-estate friends as the unreal intelligence growth has pushed a frenzied demand for information centres.

World “hyperscalers”, or large-scale cloud service suppliers, similar to Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta (NASDAQ:META), have been spending billions on information centres to cater to rising demand for AI providers.

Australia’s data-centre market, although nascent, noticed outsized funding this 12 months with Blackstone (NYSE:BX) shopping for AirTrunk for A$24 billion ($14.91 billion) in September and developer NEXTDC elevating practically A$4.6 billion in fairness and debt.

Goodman, the nation’s greatest property developer, counts the world’s largest hyperscalers as its clients, its web site says, however the firm didn’t verify the identities of its clients in response to Reuters.

Its stock, nonetheless, displays the heightened demand for these specialised amenities, with information centres underneath building making up 42% of its A$12.8 billion ($7.96 billion) portfolio of tasks underneath growth on the finish of September, up from 37% on the finish of final 12 months.

This has despatched its inventory flying 45.8% larger this 12 months, positioning Goodman for its finest efficiency since 2006. It is usually the Australian actual property index’s prime performer.

Greater publicity to information centres in growth makes the market extra comfy paying the next a number of for the enterprise, stated John Lockton, head of funding technique at Sandstone Insights.

“Investments into information centres proceed to see momentum … We anticipate this setting to proceed to assist Goodman – CAPEX outlook for hyperscalers implies ongoing progress for FY25.”

The consensus is cut up on whether or not Goodman’s inventory rise can proceed. Some factions of the market highlighted that investor curiosity in data-centre-focused shares has begun to chill as valuations get wealthy.

They drew warning from landlord DigiCo Infrastructure REIT’s preliminary public providing this month, the place it raised A$2 billion, however the inventory fell 9% on debut.

“We expect Goodman’s securities are costly at present costs … we’re extra cautious about assuming maintainable extra returns from DC funding in the long term,” stated Winky Yingqi Tan, a Morningstar analyst targeted on REITs.

Tan additionally flagged dangers of data-centre obsolescence resulting in capital-intensive upgrades, and rivals including extra provide, as components that would erode Goodman’s returns over time.

Lockton, nonetheless, stays upbeat on Goodman’s prospects. He lauds its current pipeline, and entry to land with energy provide that may be transformed to information centres, which rivals have flagged as tough to acquire.

($1 = 1.6093 Australian {dollars})