IRM · Real estate(real estate investment trusts) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Iron Mountain Inc reported revenue of $6.9 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 7.8% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 14.3% in 2016 to 16.9%, and it earned 5.4% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $9.5 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 96.4% went back into the business and 73.0% to dividends; the share count rose 20.4%. On the accounting screens, it passes 4 of 8 Piotroski tests; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20256.9B+7.8% a year over 9 years
Operating margin16.9%gross margin —
Return on invested capital5.4%6.4% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay-1.1B-15.5% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA7.4×net debt 16.3B
Piotroski F-score4/8tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2016Revenue 3.5BOperating income 501.6M
2017Revenue 3.8BOperating income 634.1M
2018Revenue 1.6BOperating income 808.3M
2019Revenue 1.6BOperating income 781.3M
2020Revenue 4.1BOperating income 934.8M
2021Revenue 4.5BOperating income 854.2M
2022Revenue 5.1BOperating income 1.0B
2023Revenue 5.5BOperating income 921.8M
2024Revenue 6.1BOperating income 1.0B
2025Revenue 6.9BOperating income 1.2B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+10.6%
+10.7%
+7.8%
Operating income
+3.5%
+4.5%
+9.8%
Net income
-35.3%
-15.0%
+4.0%
Earnings per share
-35.7%
-15.5%
+1.8%
Dividend per share
+7.6%
+4.5%
+4.7%
Shares
+0.6%
+0.6%
+2.1%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow
-20.0%0.0%20.0%40.0%60.0%
2016Operating 14.3%Net 3.1%Free cash flow 6.1%
2017Operating 16.5%Net 4.5%Free cash flow 9.8%
2018Operating 50.4%Net 22.1%Free cash flow 29.7%
2019Operating 49.4%Net 17.0%Free cash flow 17.3%
2020Operating 22.5%Net 8.3%Free cash flow 13.2%
2021Operating 19.0%Net 10.1%Free cash flow 3.3%
2022Operating 20.6%Net 11.0%Free cash flow 1.0%
2023Operating 16.8%Net 3.4%Free cash flow -4.1%
2024Operating 16.4%Net 3.0%Free cash flow -9.7%
2025Operating 16.9%Net 2.2%Free cash flow -13.5%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Return on invested capital
Return on invested capital
0.0%2.5%5.0%7.5%10.0%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020Return on invested capital 8.7%
2021Return on invested capital 6.1%
2022Return on invested capital 8.3%
2023Return on invested capital 6.3%
2024Return on invested capital 5.7%
2025Return on invested capital 5.4%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
—
Return on assets
0.7%
Asset turnover
0.33×
Overheads (SG&A)
20.2% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-1.5B-1.0B-500.0M0500.0M1.0B
2016Net income 107.2MFree cash flow 215.3MAfter stock-based pay 186.3M
2017Net income 171.7MFree cash flow 377.8MAfter stock-based pay 347.8M
2018Net income 355.1MFree cash flow 475.5MAfter stock-based pay 444.3M
2019Net income 268.3MFree cash flow 273.7MAfter stock-based pay 238.0M
2020Net income 343.1MFree cash flow 549.4MAfter stock-based pay 511.7M
2021Net income 452.7MFree cash flow 147.8MAfter stock-based pay 86.8M
2022Net income 562.1MFree cash flow 52.3MAfter stock-based pay -4.5M
2023Net income 187.3MFree cash flow -225.7MAfter stock-based pay -299.5M
2024Net income 183.7MFree cash flow -594.9MAfter stock-based pay -713.0M
2025Net income 152.3MFree cash flow -931.6MAfter stock-based pay -1.1B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
9.5B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 96%9.2B
Acquisitions 40%3.8B
Dividends 73%6.9B
Share buybacks 0%0
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -109%-10.4B
Over the same years it paid 613.6M in stock. The share count rose 20.4%.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-4.00$-2.00$0.00$2.00$4.00
2016Earnings per share $0.43Free cash flow per share $0.87Dividend per share $2.05
2017Earnings per share $0.64Free cash flow per share $1.42Dividend per share $1.65
2018Earnings per share $1.24Free cash flow per share $1.66Dividend per share $2.35
2019Earnings per share $0.93Free cash flow per share $0.95Dividend per share $2.45
2020Earnings per share $1.19Free cash flow per share $1.90Dividend per share $2.48
2021Earnings per share $1.56Free cash flow per share $0.51Dividend per share $2.47
2022Earnings per share $1.92Free cash flow per share $0.18Dividend per share $2.48
2023Earnings per share $0.64Free cash flow per share $-0.77Dividend per share $2.51
2024Earnings per share $0.62Free cash flow per share $-2.01Dividend per share $2.67
2025Earnings per share $0.51Free cash flow per share $-3.13Dividend per share $3.09
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
240.0M260.0M280.0M300.0M
2016Diluted shares 247.3M
2017Diluted shares 266.8M
2018Diluted shares 286.7M
2019Diluted shares 287.7M
2020Diluted shares 288.6M
2021Diluted shares 291.0M
2022Diluted shares 292.4M
2023Diluted shares 294.0M
2024Diluted shares 296.2M
2025Diluted shares 297.8M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2016Net debt 6.0B
2017Net debt 6.1B
2018Net debt 8.0B
2019Net debt 8.5B
2020Net debt 8.5B
2021Net debt 9.0B
2022Net debt 10.4B
2023Net debt 11.7B
2024Net debt 13.6B
2025Net debt 16.3B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
7.4×
Interest coverage
1× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.74 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 76d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
4of 8 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
–Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
The accounts lack a line it needs (retained earnings, current assets or liabilities).
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
The accounts lack too many of the lines it needs.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Net debt is 7.4 times EBITDA.
Benign
A stable sector with predictable cash flows and comfortable maturities.
Worrying
Little room if earnings fall; the maturity schedule is what to check.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
With a free cash flow margin at or below zero in year ten, the business never generates cash for its owners and a DCF says nothing useful. Set a positive margin for year ten to see what it would take.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.