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[Beginning of
Cramer's
verbatim
comments for
this segment...]
Jim:
Last week,
during
the Lightning Round,
Neal in New York
called in and
asked about
DuPont Fabros Technology,
Inc. (DFT)...
and man, it
stumped this
chump for
certain... so I
do what I always
do when a call
that makes me
feel like a
joker... I
circle back, I
do
the homework,
so I can answer
the question...
which I did on
Thursday.
DuPont Fabros
Technology, as
it happens, is
sort of like the
holy Roman
empire, which
was really
neither holy,
nor Roman, or
really much of
an empire... The
stock has
nothing to do
with DuPont, the
big chemical
company. It's
not a technology
stock. Nor is it
owned by John
Fabreau, the
director who put
me on the map
with "Iron Man."
No. It's a real
estate
investment
trust, a
REIT.
I said I liked
the stock, after
doing the
homework, but I
needed to hear
more about a
dividend here,
because that's
why people buy
real estate
investment
trusts... they
had to stop
paying in late
2008, when it
had some trouble
with financing.
Luckily, the CEO
is a close
watcher of the
show and, by
popular demand,
he has agreed to
come on the show
tonight, and
help us answer
these questions.
Just to refresh
your memory, DFT
is a real estate
investment trust
that owns data
centers. These
are big
buildings, where
technology
companies who
lease the space,
keep their
servers. And
that's companies
like Yahoo or
Microsoft or
Google or
FaceBook...
Think of DuPont
Fabros as a nice
tie-in to
the mobile internet tsunami
and the
broadband
shortage that
it's creating.
Remember last
night... we had
Windstream on...
they talked
about that.
The company has
seven active
data centers...
five in Virginia
that are 100%
leased... and
two more that
are both still
trying to find
tenants... one
in Virginia and
one in Chicago.
DuPont Fabros
also has three
data centers on
which
construction was
suspended and
six more in the
pipeline that
still haven't
entered the
planning stage.
Now I like the
business,
because there's
a shift
occurring from
in-sourced data
centers that
technology
companies own
and operate
themselves, to
more outsourced
data centers. As
the need for
bandwidth
increases, which
we know it is,
so does the cost
of owning a data
center, which is
why companies
have been
increasingly
been leasing
space at
wholesale data
centers.
According to
Oppenheimer... a
fabulous report
out today... the
demand for
outsourced data
centers... the
capacity could
rise by 15%
annually by
2012... of
course better
than a sharp
stick in the
eye...
DuPont Fabros
intends to
expand by
leasing up its
existing
facilities and
then bringing on
1.6 million
gross square
feet of
additional
capacity.
I like the
story. I've got
some concerns
though...
In order to
expand, the
company's
extremely
dependent on
credit markets.
It has around
$706 million in
debt, versus $39
million in
cash... that's
not pretty... a
6.2%
debt-to-equity
ratio... you
know we don't
like that on Mad
Money. It needs
to raise money
to restart the
development of
its new data
centers in
Virginia and New
Jersey, where
construction is
expected to
restart in early
2010.
Now, given that
the debt markets
are getting
better, and
similar
companies like
TeraMark,
Equinox, and
Switch and Data
Facilities, have
recently raised
money to support
their expansion
plans, there
probably isn't
anything to be
too concerned
about here...
Still, I want to
wait until the
dividend comes
back before I
fully recommend
DuPont Fabros...
and I have a lot
of questions...
So let's hear
from ... He's
Hossein Fateh,
President and
CEO of
DuPont Fabros(DFT)...
Jim:
Mr. Fateh, welcome
to Mad Money.
Hossein:
Well thank you Jim.
Jim:
Alright sir, a lot
of my real estate
investment trusts
that I follow,
including Brandywine
and Federal Realty,
as well as Vornado
and Boston
Properties... Mr.
Zuckerman's... were
able to do equity
offerings before
they had to tamper
with their dividend
or do anything...
You knew obviously
that things were
getting tough. How
come you were not
able to issue equity
when it was time to
issue equity?
Hossein:
Well, we
certainly can issue
equity right now. We
choose not to,
because we don't
want to dilute
ourselves.
Management here is
very much aligned
with the
shareholders in that
we have about 40% of
the equity in the
company held with
insiders. So we
don't want to dilute
ourselves at this
point, be we get
calls at least once
a week from bankers
wanting raise equity
for us. We're going
to leasing our space
in a very rapid
fashion, and when
the space gets
leased up, we'll be
putting on a little
more debt... We only
need another $150
million of debt to
add two more
facilities, or to
restart two of our
facilities, which
will add
approximately $53
million to our
EBITDA (earnings
before income,
taxes, depreciation
and amortization).
Jim: Okay now, given
that fact that your
tenants are
companies that are
actually doing quite
well... here I'm
speaking about
Microsoft and Yahoo
which represent a
big part of your
business... Is there
a sense that what
really happened here
is that business is
strong, but the
credit markets are
weak?
Hossein:
That's
exactly right, Jim.
I mean, the credit
markets essentially
totally dried up...
and so, as the
credit markets dried
up, we stopped
construction and
were prudent. In
fact, we started
only one of our
facilities which
took only $25
million to do. We've
managed to lease 58%
of that facility so
far. And, uh, now we
see that the credit
markets are slowly
loosening up, and we
expect to be raising
the additional
dollars that we need
through credit to
finish the other two
facilities.
Jim: Alright, we're
big fans of cloud
computing. I own
VMware (VMW)
for
ActionAlertsPlus.com, my
charitable trust...
We are big believers
in
Salesforce.com (CRM), Marc
Benioff's company...
IBM's strategy...
You guys would seem
to be a nice
derivative play on
cloud computing,
where you have to
have big servers,
but you don't have
to have expensive
computers on your
desktop.
Hossein:
Yes, that's
exactly right. Cloud
computing... what
it's going to do...
is increase the
amount of outsourced
data centers. You
know, as you well
know, many companies
five years ago would
want to own their
own data centers.
With cloud
computing, you can
reduce the cost of
getting into a data
center by having
your redundancy in
geography, rather
than having a Tier 4
data center is that
you may have two or
three Tier 3 data
centers. So your
cost per megawatt in
a data center is
going to be reduced
drastically.
Jim: Alright, now I
understand that, at
last count, you were
48% leased in
Chicago and 58%
leased in Virginia.
Has that already
started picking up
from those numbers?
Hossein:
You know,
our activity is
extremely good in
both of our data
centers. We, uh, we
will announce our
new leasings that
have or have not
been done on our
next earnings call
on November 4th.
Jim: Uh, can I
presume that they're
not worse than what
I just talked about.
Hossein:
Uh, we
don't lose leases.
That's the thing
with data centers.
This is mission
critical space. So
everyone pays on
time. This is not a
real estate play
where you have a
reduction in rents,
or a reduction in
credit. Normally,
our minimum space in
the wholesale
business is someone
who needs 2,000
servers. Anyone who
is producing 2,000
servers of computing
power is a very
significant company.
Jim: Absolutely,
absolutely...
Hossein Fateh, thank
you so much for
coming on and
explaining the
situation for your
company. We really
appreciate it.
Hossein:
Okay, thank
you Jim...
▼ ▼
▼ ▼
▼
Jim's
comments AFTER the
interview:
Okay, that's DuPont
Fabros. You know,
he's absolutely
right. Recently, at
TheStreet.com
where I'm chairman,
we had to do a data
center change. And
the idea that we
wouldn't pay our
bill on time would
be heresy because,
if we went down for
a day, it would
obviously destroy
the credibility. So
he's got a good
demand story. I want
to see another
quarter or two,
because I need to
see that for
companies that have
problems paying a
dividend in a real
estate investment
trust.
[verbatim recap]
[end of segment]
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