Analyzing Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) & Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) and Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) are both large-cap real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Equinix and Iron Mountain”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equinix	$9.22 billion	11.11	$1.35 billion	$15.53	66.82
Iron Mountain	$7.56 billion	4.53	$144.59 million	$1.40	82.23

Equinix has higher revenue and earnings than Iron Mountain. Equinix is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Iron Mountain, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Equinix pays an annual dividend of $20.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Iron Mountain pays an annual dividend of $3.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Equinix pays out 132.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Iron Mountain pays out 246.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equinix has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Iron Mountain has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Equinix and Iron Mountain’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equinix	15.64%	10.76%	3.83%
Iron Mountain	5.54%	-85.44%	3.30%

Volatility and Risk

Equinix has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Iron Mountain has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Equinix and Iron Mountain, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equinix	0	4	21	2	2.93
Iron Mountain	0	2	5	0	2.71

Equinix presently has a consensus target price of $1,204.80, suggesting a potential upside of 16.10%. Iron Mountain has a consensus target price of $137.83, suggesting a potential upside of 19.72%. Given Iron Mountain’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Iron Mountain is more favorable than Equinix.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.9% of Equinix shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.1% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Equinix shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Equinix beats Iron Mountain on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.

About Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) is a global leader in information management services. Founded in 1951 and trusted by more than 240,000 customers worldwide, Iron Mountain serves to protect and elevate the power of our customers’ work. Through a range of offerings including digital transformation, data centers, secure records storage, information management, asset lifecycle management, secure destruction and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps businesses bring light to their dark data, enabling customers to unlock value and intelligence from their stored digital and physical assets at speed and with security, while helping them meet their environmental goals.