Iron Mountain Stock Up 29.3% in Three Months: Will the Momentum Last?

Iron Mountain Incorporated IRM shares have surged 29.3% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 5.2%.

Iron Mountain boasts a stable and resilient core storage and records management business, complemented by growing data center operations. Its accretive buyouts and expansion efforts toward fast-growing businesses, such as the data center, bode well for growth. Its strong balance sheet enhances financial flexibility.

Last month, the company reported fourth-quarter adjusted FFO per share of $1.44, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.39. This figure jumped 16.1% year over year. Results reflected solid performances across all segments, including the storage, service, global RIM and data center business.

Analysts seem bullish on this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its first quarter 2026 AFFO per share has been revised northward marginally to $1.37 over the past month.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Factors Behind IRM Stock’s Price Surge

Iron Mountain enjoys a steady stream of recurring revenues from its core storage and records management businesses. The company derives a majority of its revenues from fixed periodic (usually earned on a monthly basis) storage rental fees charged to customers based on the volume of their records stored. Iron Mountain’s organic storage rental revenues increased 10.9% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Iron Mountain is supplementing its storage segment’s performance with expansion in its faster-growing businesses, most notably the data center segment. It leased more than 100 MW of data center capacity for the third consecutive year in 2025. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company attained data center revenue growth of 39.1% year over year. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Iron Mountain had a total data center operating portfolio of 488 MW, which was 97% leased.

Iron Mountain has an aggressive expansion strategy, which includes acquisitions and developments, to supplement organic growth in storage revenues. In September 2025, IRM acquired ACT Logistics, which strengthens its ALM market leadership position in Australia. The company is focusing on capital recycling by monetizing non-core assets, and entering into joint ventures and sale-leaseback transactions, using sale proceeds to fund the development pipeline. Such moves highlight the company’s prudent capital management practices and relieve pressure on its balance sheet.

Iron Mountain maintains a strong balance sheet position. Its debt had a weighted-average maturity of 4.6 years as of Dec. 31, 2025. With this, it has ample financial flexibility to meet its near-term debt obligations and other capital commitments while pursuing growth opportunities. Iron Mountain ended the fourth quarter of 2025 with a net lease-adjusted leverage of 4.9X.

Solid dividend payouts are arguably the biggest enticements for REIT shareholders, and Iron Mountain remains committed to that. In November 2025, concurrent with its third-quarter 2025 earnings release, it announced a 10% hike in its cash dividend to 86.4 cents per share from 78.5 cents paid out earlier. Given its healthy operating platform and solid financial position, the increased dividend is likely to be sustainable in the forthcoming period.

Key Concerns for Iron Mountain

Competition from other industry players is likely to lead to aggressive pricing pressure and hurt Iron Mountain’s prospects. High interest expenses and adverse foreign currency movements remain a concern.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Chatham Lodging Trust REIT CLDT, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and Cousins Properties CUZ, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLDT’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $1.20, which indicates year-over-year growth of 17.7%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CUZ’s full-year FFO per share is pinned at $2.93, which calls for an increase of 3.2% from the year-ago period.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge Gains

Quantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.

While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.

Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power.

Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. Now, he has keyed in on what could be "the next big thing" in quantum computing supremacy. Today, you have a rare chance to position your portfolio at the forefront of this opportunity.

See Top Quantum Stocks Now >>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

Iron Mountain Incorporated (IRM): Free Stock Analysis Report

Cousins Properties Incorporated (CUZ): Free Stock Analysis Report

Chatham Lodging Trust (REIT) (CLDT): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research