Iron Mountain Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

13 Feb 2026, 05:08 by Kim Johansen · The Markets Daily

Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) management said the company closed 2025 with another quarter of record results, highlighted by double-digit growth across revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), and pointed to continued momentum heading into 2026 driven by its data center, asset lifecycle management (ALM), and digital solutions businesses.

Fourth-quarter and full-year performance

CEO Bill Meaney said Iron Mountain delivered “all-time highs” in the fourth quarter, with 17% year-over-year growth for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO. Organic revenue increased 14% in the quarter, which Meaney attributed to “broad-based strength” across segments.

CFO Barry Hytinen reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.84 billion, up $262 million year over year. Revenue rose 17% on a reported basis, 15% on a constant-currency basis, and 14% organically. Adjusted EBITDA was $705 million, up 17%, and AFFO was $430 million, up 17%. AFFO per share was $1.44, up 16% and $0.05 ahead of the projection provided on the prior earnings call.

For the full year, management reported revenue of $6.9 billion (up 12%), adjusted EBITDA of $2.57 billion (up 15%), and AFFO of $1.54 billion (up more than 15%), or $5.17 per share. Hytinen said the company exceeded the high end of its initial 2025 guidance by about $100 million for revenue and $50 million for adjusted EBITDA.

Growth businesses: data centers, ALM, and digital

Meaney emphasized that Iron Mountain’s three “growth businesses”—data centers, ALM, and digital—grew more than 30% in 2025 to nearly $2 billion in revenue and accounted for about two-thirds of the company’s consolidated growth. He said the portfolio supports management’s expectation for double-digit revenue and earnings growth “into 2026 and beyond.”

Data centers: Meaney said data center revenue increased 30% in 2025, including 39% in the fourth quarter, and management expects its backlog to drive more than 25% revenue growth in 2026, with “another year of 20%+ growth” anticipated for 2027. In the fourth quarter, Iron Mountain leased 43 megawatts (MW) and expects to lease more than 100 MW in 2026. Meaney said the company has a land bank with 400 MW of available capacity expected to energize over the next 24 months, with half expected to energize in the next 18 months.
ALM: Meaney said ALM revenue rose 63% in 2025, including 40% organic growth, and ended the year with 56% organic growth in the fourth quarter, helped by higher component remarketing revenue. He said Fortune 1000 customers using ALM services rose to 360 in 2025 from 270 the prior year, and described the business as having “significant room to grow” within existing customers. Management said it expects ALM to become a multibillion-dollar business over time.
Digital solutions: Meaney said digital revenue reached an all-time high in 2025, surpassing $500 million, with another year of double-digit growth. He cited demand for traditional projects and increasing traction for DXP, the company’s AI-powered digital platform. Meaney said the fourth quarter produced an all-time high for the number of DXP deals, with average deal value more than doubling year over year. He also said recurring revenue now accounts for more than 40% of digital revenue.

Legacy physical storage remains a cash-flow foundation

Meaney highlighted Iron Mountain’s “highly recurring” physical storage business, which he described as a high-margin, nearly $5 billion segment that funds investment across the company and supports cross-selling to a customer base of more than 240,000 organizations. He said the physical storage business posted record revenue in 2025, growing at a mid-single-digit rate, and marked the company’s 37th consecutive year of organic storage rental revenue growth.

Hytinen said total storage revenue in the fourth quarter was $1.06 billion, up 13% year over year, while total service revenue was $782 million, up 22%. With services rising as a mix of revenue, gross margin in the quarter declined modestly due to mix; however, he noted that services gross margin expanded by more than 100 basis points year over year and by 350 basis points from the third quarter.

Commercial wins and segment details

Meaney outlined several customer wins across business lines, including multi-year records management extensions and new agreements with a U.K. government department and a global media and entertainment company. He also described a “transformative software-only” digital agreement with a large Asia-based financial services company to deploy DXP initially in four markets, with plans to expand into 16 more.

In data centers, Meaney said Iron Mountain secured a 15-year contract for 28 MW at its Northern Virginia campus, and reiterated that a hyperscale customer leased the company’s entire 36-MW Chicago site on a 10-year contract that transferred and expanded a prior London lease. He also cited additional hyperscale leasing in Phoenix (2 MW) and Madrid (600 kW).

Hytinen reported fourth-quarter data center revenue of $237 million, up 39% year over year, driven by lease commencements and pricing. He said the company signed 43 MW of new leases, commenced 41 MW, and renewed 176 leases totaling 4 MW. Renewal pricing spreads were 9% on a cash basis and 12% on a GAAP basis. Data center adjusted EBITDA was $122 million, with a 51.5% margin. For 2026, management expects more than $1 billion in data center revenue, representing growth of more than 25%.

In ALM, Hytinen reported fourth-quarter revenue of $190 million, up 70% year over year and $30 million above the prior projection, with the outperformance split evenly between hyperscale and enterprise. Organic ALM growth was 56%, and acquisitions Premier Surplus and ACT Logistics contributed $14 million in quarterly revenue. On a Q&A question about pricing, Hytinen said memory pricing contributed roughly $15 million to $20 million of upside versus the company’s earlier fourth-quarter guidance, and that 2026 assumptions reflect “current market conditions” for pricing and volume. For 2026, Iron Mountain guided to $850 million in ALM revenue, about 35% growth, with expanding margins.

2026 guidance, capital allocation, and balance sheet

Management issued 2026 guidance calling for revenue of $7.625 billion to $7.775 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $2.875 billion to $2.925 billion, and AFFO of $1.705 billion to $1.735 billion. AFFO per share is expected to be $5.69 to $5.79. Hytinen said FX is expected to benefit revenue by about $75 million and prior-year acquisitions by about $45 million.

For the first quarter, management expects revenue of about $1.855 billion, adjusted EBITDA of about $685 million, and AFFO of about $415 million, with AFFO per share of about $1.39.

On capital allocation, Hytinen said Iron Mountain remains focused on dividend growth and investing in high-return opportunities while maintaining a “strong balance sheet.” The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.864 per share, which he said is 10% higher than the comparable quarterly dividend last year, and management reiterated a target payout ratio in the low-60% range of AFFO per share.

Capital spending in the fourth quarter included $525 million of growth CapEx and $43 million of recurring CapEx. For 2026, Iron Mountain plans $2.0 billion of growth capital and $150 million of recurring CapEx, with the majority of growth capital tied to data centers. Hytinen also said the company’s strategy remains focused on pre-leasing before commencing “meaningful construction.”

Leverage improved during the quarter, with net lease adjusted leverage ending 2025 at 4.9x, which Hytinen said is the company’s lowest level since before its 2014 REIT conversion. Management expects leverage to remain at similar levels by the end of 2026.

During Q&A, Hytinen said there are no restructuring charges planned for 2026, noting that the company’s Matterhorn restructuring ended last year. He also provided cash-flow modeling inputs, including an expectation for cash interest of roughly $905 million in 2026 and cash taxes rising by about $20 million year over year.

About Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM)

Iron Mountain Incorporated is a global information management company that helps organizations protect, store, and manage their physical and digital information. The firm provides a range of services including secure records storage, document imaging and digitization, secure shredding and destruction, and information governance solutions designed to support regulatory compliance and business continuity. Iron Mountain also offers specialized secure storage environments and logistics for sensitive assets such as art, medical records, and legal archives.

Beyond traditional records management, Iron Mountain has expanded into technology-driven services to support customers’ digital transformation.