What happened Shares of GDS Holdings (NASDAQ: GDS) jumped on Tuesday after the Chinese data center operator reported its third-quarter results. GDS beat analyst estimates for both revenue and earnings, and it boosted its full-year outlook. The stock was up about 9.8% at 3 p.m. EST. So what GDS reported third-quarter revenue of $111.1 million, up 79.7% year over year in local currency and about $8.3 million higher than the average analyst estimate. Area in service rose 89.3% year over year to 147,342 square meters; the commitment rate for area in service was 96.3%; and the utilization rate was 68.3%. Image source: Getty Images. Earnings per share came in at a loss of $0.02, $0.03 better than analysts were expecting. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization jumped 125.3% year over year to $43.8 million. "Despite macro market conditions, we continue to see strong demand for high-performance data center capacity in China from across our customer franchise, driven mainly by cloud adoption and AI deployment," said GDS CEO William Huang. GDS now expects to produce full-year revenue of at least RMB2,750 million, or about $395 million. That new minimum is up 4.6% from the company's previous guidance. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be at least RMB1,020 million, or about $147 million, up 5.9% from the previous guidance. Now what GDS is growing quickly, but it's also taking on a tremendous amount of debt. Total debt, including capital leases, stood at $1.79 billion at the end of the third quarter, up nearly 100% in local currency since the end of 2017. Through the first nine months of the year, interest expense exceeded GDS's gross profit. Gross margin was 22% in that period, down from 26.1% in the prior-year period. While GDS impressed the market with its third-quarter report, revenue is the only number moving in the right direction. 10 stocks we like better than GDS Holdings Limited ADSWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and GDS Holdings Limited ADS wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of August 6, 2018Timothy Green has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.