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Investing.com - Barclays Capital Inc. upgraded ACS, ACS Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA (BME:ACS) to Overweight from Equal Weight on Monday, raising its price target to €127 from €78, citing a valuation disconnect in the company’s data centre development platform.
The firm also raised its price target on Hochtief AG (HOTG.DE) to €419 from €280 while maintaining an Equal Weight rating.
The upgrade reflects Barclays’ view that ACS offers the most direct exposure to data centre growth among European contractors, with the market ascribing minimal value to the company’s owned data centre platform despite an estimated €3 billion valuation for its initial 1.7GW pipeline.
ACS has entered a 50-50 joint venture with GIP (BlackRock) to develop 3GW of data centre capacity by 2030, with the initial portfolio already securing land and 80% of power supply across sites in Spain, the US, and Australia.
Data centre capacity is expected to grow at more than 20% annually through 2030, driven by hyperscaler commitments and AI infrastructure investment, according to the research.
Europe currently has 9.5GW of installed capacity compared to 26.5GW in the US, with approximately 8.5GW of European capacity expected to enter construction from 2026.
Barclays estimates that contractors and power-linked infrastructure providers will be the primary beneficiaries, as data centre construction is heavily weighted toward electrical systems and HVAC rather than traditional building materials.
ACS’s data centre business comprises three pillars: engineering and construction via its 79% stake in Hochtief, direct ownership of large data centres through the GIP joint venture, and cloud provision via Edge data centres.
The company expects its data centre business to reach an equity valuation exceeding €25 billion by 2030, with the first lease for its Madrid I facility expected to be announced in the first half of 2026.
Barclays raised its earnings estimates for both companies, reflecting higher projections for Turner and infrastructure divisions, and included the Digital & Energy platform valued at approximately €3 billion in its sum-of-the-parts analysis for ACS.
For Hochtief, data centres now represent 37% of Turner’s orderbook, with management targeting margins of 5-6% for large data centre projects versus current Turner margins of approximately 2.5%.