Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, do you have a recommendation on Iron Mountain, IRM on the NYSE? It deals in the mass storage of physical records, etc. It pays a great dividend. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Iron Mountain Incorporated, $40.03, symbol IRM on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 288.4 million; Market cap: $11.6 billion; www.ironmountain.com), stores, protects, and manages documents and information for more than 225,000 organizations, including 96% of the Fortune 1000. (The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenue and as compiled by the American business magazine Fortune). The company has over 1,450 facilities in 50 countries, with North America providing 67% of its revenues; Europe, 19%; Asia, 9%; and Latin America, 5%. Iron Mountain also owns 26 million square feet of real estate in major metropolitan areas across North America, Western Europe and Latin America. Plus, it operates 67 million square feet of additional real estate worldwide. Iron Mountain derives the majority of its revenue from storage rental fees (66% of total sales). The company’s storage contracts typically range from one to five years with an overall 98% retention rate. As a result, these represent long-term and stable revenue streams. It also…