Australia's Stockland rises as Citi continues to see data centre upside

** Shares of Stockland Corporation SGP.AX rise as much as 2.5% to A$4.16, their largest intraday pct jump since October 6

** Citi maintains its "buy" rating and A$5.40 target price on the diversified property group, citing valuation, progress in its data centre pipeline and resilience in land lease operations

** Brokerage says co's 1Q27 Masterplanned Communities net sales fell to 1,506 housing units from 2,117 last year, while settlements declined to 828 units from 1,026, reflecting the residential slowdown previously flagged

** But Citi says Stockland remains on track to achieve its FY27 residential settlement target of 7,300 to 8,300 lots

** Cites progress on Stockland's 450MW secured data centre power pipeline, with initial FY27 funds-from-operations contributions expected from land transactions

** Citi believes the market has largely priced in residential weakness but not potential upside from data centres and land-lease operations

** Stock down 27.8% YTD