CluenexIron Mountain IRM
Iron Mountain scores average on business quality (5.6 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Iron Mountain does
Iron Mountain stores physical records and operates data centers, making money primarily from corporate document management and secure storage leasing fees paid by enterprise clients globally. The company is actively expanding its digital infrastructure footprint to capture demand from the artificial intelligence and cloud computing boom visible in sector headlines.
- What it does best
Iron Mountain dominates physical document storage with sticky enterprise relationships, achieving an 85.2% ROE that sits in the top decile of its sector. Switching costs are exceptionally high because relocating millions of corporate boxes creates severe compliance risks for clients.
- The main risk
Heavy capital expenditure is driving negative free cash flow of $597M as the company builds out data center capacity. If enterprise demand softens before these digital facilities reach full occupancy, debt servicing costs will strain the balance sheet further.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin stands at 20.7% while free cash flow margin is negative at -7.9% due to heavy capital expenditures, showing that profitability remains constrained as the company scales its digital infrastructure.
The moat relies on massive physical scale and regulatory compliance lock-in for enterprise clients, reflected in a high ROE of 85.2% that places it in the top decile of its sector.
Revenue grew to $7.6B, representing a 12.2% growth rate that places it in the top quartile of its sector, driven by steady expansion in its digital and physical segments.
Total debt sits at $16.4B with an interest coverage ratio of 1.8x, meaning earnings barely cover debt servicing costs while free cash flow remains negative at -$597M, leaving the balance sheet softer.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on IRM
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Iron Mountain scores average on the Cluenex quality check (5.6 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is fair, moat fair, growth steady and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 29, 2026, before the open.
See IRM today
- Today's verdict on IRM, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Iron Mountain (IRM)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/irm/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.