# Iron Mountain (IRM.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/IRM

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:34:13.110Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $112.68 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $9.51 per share, central $10.80 per share, high $12.51 per share. Buy at or below the central value $10.80 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:34:13.110Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 3.6% at the stated quote. About 3.6% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 1 revenue decline in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 1

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.13×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.14×

- FY2017: 0.16×

- FY2018: 0.19×

- FY2019: 0.18×

- FY2020: 0.23×

- FY2021: 0.19×

- FY2022: 0.21×

- FY2023: 0.17×

- FY2024: 0.16×

- FY2025: 0.20×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 31.3pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 8.6%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 7.8%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 31.3 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 57.0%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 25.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 15.6%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 2.8%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 8.6%

- FY2017: 12.8%

- FY2018: 13.5%

- FY2019: 8.6%

- FY2020: 11.7%

- FY2021: 7.8%

- FY2022: 10.5%

- FY2023: 7.8%

- FY2024: 7.1%

- FY2025: 8.0%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.05×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $1.6B

- Net income, five-year total: $1.5B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 22.9%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -2.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 11.2%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.16×

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: 1.00×

- FY2024: 1.00×

- FY2025: 1.00×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 12.8% vs 7.8%

- Per-share earnings: 0.58 to 0.61 (three-year endpoint medians)

- acquired goodwill and intangibles (proxy) exceeds half of ten-year net income with low and deteriorating ROIC

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 3.5%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 0.6%

- Market cap gain: $16B

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$4.1B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 3.5%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 0.6%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 0.6%

- Per-share value change: $0.03

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.58

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.61

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 1.00

- Average buyback yield: 0.2%

- Buyback history: 3 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $3.9B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $2.8B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 12.8%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 7.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $0.42

- FY2017: $0.69

- FY2018: $1.27

- FY2019: $0.93

- FY2020: $1.19

- FY2021: $1.55

- FY2022: $1.90

- FY2023: $0.63

- FY2024: $0.61

- FY2025: $0.49

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -5.7%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.00×

- Restructuring years, last five: 2

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 10.5%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 9.27×

- Accounting red flags: 0

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -4.6%

- FY2017: -4.9%

- FY2018: -4.8%

- FY2019: -5.1%

- FY2020: -4.6%

- FY2021: -2.1%

- FY2022: -2.3%

- FY2023: -5.3%

- FY2024: -5.4%

- FY2025: -5.7%

## Holders

## Price story

Price needs cash profits to grow 31.8% a year for ten years · sales +12.2%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:59.576Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 31.8% a year for ten years

- 2025-05-01: Iron Mountain Beats on Q1 FFO, Lags on Revenues, Raises '25 View ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iron-mountain-beats-q1-ffo-182100115.html))

- 2025-11-06: Iron Mountain (IRM): $221.6M One-Off Loss Reinforces Margin Recovery Debate ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iron-mountain-irm-221-6m-082127167.html))

- 2026-02-12: Iron Mountain's Shares Rise on Q4 AFFO Beat, Revenues Rise Y/Y ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iron-mountains-shares-rise-q4-164200517.html))

- 2026-04-30: Iron Mountain's Q1 AFFO Tops Estimates on Data Center, ALM Strength ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/iron-mountains-q1-affo-tops-143900908.html))

- 2026-05-17: Record AI-Fueled Data Center Leasing Could Be A Game Changer For Iron Mountain (IRM) ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/record-ai-fueled-data-center-111023643.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +12.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-12.

- FY2016: $3.5B 

- FY2017: $3.8B 

- FY2018: $4.2B 

- FY2019: $4.3B 

- FY2020: $4.1B 

- FY2021: $4.5B 

- FY2022: $5.1B 

- FY2023: $5.5B 

- FY2024: $6.1B 

- FY2025: $6.9B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 25.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-12.

- FY2016: 55.4% 

- FY2017: 56.2% 

- FY2018: 57.4% 

- FY2019: 57.0% 

- FY2020: 57.6% 

- FY2021: 58.0% 

- FY2022: 57.1% 

- FY2023: 57.0% 

- FY2024: 56.2% 

- FY2025: 25.7% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in property rentals; annual sales are USD 6.9 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-12); FY2025: revenue 6901737000; grossProfit 1773387000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 25.7% to 57% during 2023–25; it earns 8.6% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 57%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 56.2%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-12); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 25.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.08597448101079169],[2017,0.1284132641381317],[2018,0.1345795617799483],[2019,0.08628226324293367],[2020,0.11672519032798005],[2021,0.07841962043296437],[2022,0.10499681369143676],[2023,0.07785456576591719],[2024,0.07135102986704796],[2025,0.08025359210680004]]; median 0.08612837212686268. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 57% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-12); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.5798250084436688],[2022,0.571061377771734],[2023,0.5697672148311886]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Earns 22.9% on new investment; paid dividends in 10 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 379369000; owner earnings 177781000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 418316000; owner earnings 287881000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 532541000; owner earnings 485999000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2019: growth capex 38166769.161836624; upkeep 710292230.8381634; owner earnings 232025769.16183662. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.16449366507741442.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 453253000; owner earnings 558885000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 624376000; owner earnings 522813000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2022: growth capex 137944000; upkeep 745639000; owner earnings 556981000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.24766374436470903.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2023: growth capex 552079000; upkeep 793018000; owner earnings 184234000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 2.9966184309085184.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); FY2024: growth capex 927465000; upkeep 926485000; owner earnings 180156000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 5.1481216279224675.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-12); FY2025: growth capex 1214424000; upkeep 1057204000; owner earnings 144591000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 8.399028985206549.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); Incremental return on capital 0.2286033312737106, from the economics test's unchanged annual inputs.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); Dividend observations: [[2016,505871000],[2017,439999000],[2018,673635000],[2019,704526000],[2020,716290000],[2021,718340000],[2022,724388000],[2023,737650000],[2024,789527000],[2025,919388000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-12); FY2025: cash repurchases 36806000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 0.9% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); IRM.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.88 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What could break it

"BUSINESS RISKS" (SEC filing, Feb 2026)

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-12); BUSINESS RISKS

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 31.8% yearly over ten years; actual decline was 1.8%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-12); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.4542137142157603. Price 112.68; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 0.5814923768845642 → FY2025 0.48550447256023854. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $33.73 per share

- 2016-11: $33.00 per share

- 2016-12: $32.48 per share

- 2017-01: $35.80 per share

- 2017-02: $36.35 per share

- 2017-03: $35.67 per share

- 2017-04: $34.76 per share

- 2017-05: $34.92 per share

- 2017-06: $34.36 per share

- 2017-07: $36.43 per share

- 2017-08: $39.42 per share

- 2017-09: $38.90 per share

- 2017-10: $40.00 per share

- 2017-11: $40.87 per share

- 2017-12: $37.73 per share

- 2018-01: $35.03 per share

- 2018-02: $31.46 per share

- 2018-03: $32.86 per share

- 2018-04: $33.94 per share

- 2018-05: $33.29 per share

- 2018-06: $35.01 per share

- 2018-07: $35.11 per share

- 2018-08: $36.10 per share

- 2018-09: $34.52 per share

- 2018-10: $30.61 per share

- 2018-11: $33.97 per share

- 2018-12: $32.41 per share

- 2019-01: $37.20 per share

- 2019-02: $35.42 per share

- 2019-03: $35.46 per share

- 2019-04: $32.48 per share

- 2019-05: $30.65 per share

- 2019-06: $31.30 per share

- 2019-07: $29.41 per share

- 2019-08: $31.85 per share

- 2019-09: $32.39 per share

- 2019-10: $32.80 per share

- 2019-11: $32.12 per share

- 2019-12: $31.87 per share

- 2020-01: $31.61 per share

- 2020-02: $30.41 per share

- 2020-03: $23.80 per share

- 2020-04: $24.18 per share

- 2020-05: $25.76 per share

- 2020-06: $26.10 per share

- 2020-07: $28.19 per share

- 2020-08: $30.09 per share

- 2020-09: $26.79 per share

- 2020-10: $26.06 per share

- 2020-11: $27.50 per share

- 2020-12: $29.48 per share

- 2021-01: $33.67 per share

- 2021-02: $34.79 per share

- 2021-03: $37.01 per share

- 2021-04: $40.12 per share

- 2021-05: $43.54 per share

- 2021-06: $42.32 per share

- 2021-07: $43.76 per share

- 2021-08: $47.75 per share

- 2021-09: $43.45 per share

- 2021-10: $45.64 per share

- 2021-11: $45.44 per share

- 2021-12: $52.33 per share

- 2022-01: $45.92 per share

- 2022-02: $49.18 per share

- 2022-03: $55.41 per share

- 2022-04: $53.73 per share

- 2022-05: $53.90 per share

- 2022-06: $48.69 per share

- 2022-07: $48.49 per share

- 2022-08: $52.61 per share

- 2022-09: $43.97 per share

- 2022-10: $50.07 per share

- 2022-11: $54.33 per share

- 2022-12: $49.85 per share

- 2023-01: $54.58 per share

- 2023-02: $52.75 per share

- 2023-03: $52.91 per share

- 2023-04: $55.24 per share

- 2023-05: $53.42 per share

- 2023-06: $56.82 per share

- 2023-07: $61.40 per share

- 2023-08: $63.54 per share

- 2023-09: $59.45 per share

- 2023-10: $59.07 per share

- 2023-11: $64.15 per share

- 2023-12: $69.98 per share

- 2024-01: $67.52 per share

- 2024-02: $78.64 per share

- 2024-03: $80.21 per share

- 2024-04: $77.52 per share

- 2024-05: $80.69 per share

- 2024-06: $89.62 per share

- 2024-07: $102.56 per share

- 2024-08: $113.26 per share

- 2024-09: $118.83 per share

- 2024-10: $123.73 per share

- 2024-11: $123.67 per share

- 2024-12: $105.11 per share

- 2025-01: $101.57 per share

- 2025-02: $93.17 per share

- 2025-03: $86.04 per share

- 2025-04: $89.67 per share

- 2025-05: $98.71 per share

- 2025-06: $102.57 per share

- 2025-07: $97.36 per share

- 2025-08: $92.33 per share

- 2025-09: $101.94 per share

- 2025-10: $102.95 per share

- 2025-11: $86.35 per share

- 2025-12: $82.95 per share

- 2026-01: $92.13 per share

- 2026-02: $108.33 per share

- 2026-03: $102.14 per share

- 2026-04: $125.99 per share

- 2026-05: $128.25 per share

- 2026-06: $126.31 per share

- 2026-07: $122.32 per share

- 2026-08: $115.35 per share

- 2026-09: $110.95 per share

- 2026-10: $114.60 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $8.69 per share, central $10.00 per share, high $11.52 per share

- FY2017: low $11.22 per share, central $12.40 per share, high $13.90 per share

- FY2018: low $12.34 per share, central $14.01 per share, high $16.22 per share

- FY2019: low $9.19 per share, central $10.41 per share, high $12.03 per share

- FY2020: low $12.18 per share, central $13.80 per share, high $15.96 per share

- FY2021: low $19.97 per share, central $22.65 per share, high $26.21 per share

- FY2022: low $22.07 per share, central $25.10 per share, high $29.12 per share

- FY2023: low $23.33 per share, central $27.38 per share, high $31.79 per share

- FY2024: low $24.87 per share, central $28.29 per share, high $32.83 per share

- FY2025: low $8.58 per share, central $9.76 per share, high $11.32 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1020569/000102056926000013/irm-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-12.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.