Has Iron Mountain reached sufficient scale and breadth in ALM to capture more significant wallet share from customers?

The company's footprint across 61 countries is driving considerable ALM business, enabling wins like a global advertising company consolidating vendors across 30 countries. They are seeing deeper penetration with existing clients and are still very underpenetrated, indicating a long-term growth trajectory for the enterprise ALM business. “we are seeing that the footprint that we have is driving considerable business now, but we're not in 61 countries. Yes, so there's still a little bit more.”

How did the annual price increases (revenue management) process go in Q1, especially given higher inflation expectations, and what was the impact?

Revenue management is value-based, not tied to CPI/PPI, and continues at a mid-single-plus level. Most Q1 actions were implemented in late January. While last year's actions were more Q2-weighted, some incremental lifts are expected in H2 this year. The company is also leaning into revenue management for service lines, which is aiding growth. “we focus our revenue management based on value, not what's going on in like CPI or PPI or anything of that sort.”

IRM

Iron Mountain (IRM) Q1 FY26 earnings call: guidance and Q&A

Q: Can you quantify the impact of new federal opportunities on the near-term and long-term outlook for digital solutions and records, and provide an update on the Treasury contract?

Q1 saw the second-highest government bookings in company history, driven by digitally-led efficiency projects. FedRAMP high authorization for Insight will further open opportunities. The IRS Treasury contract recognized $9 million in Q1, with expectations of $45 million for 2026 and over $100 million annually from 2027. “It's the second highest bookings that we've had in the quarter with the -- on the government segment since least I've been in the company, and we've been seeing this as a big opportunity.”

Earnings call· Mar 2026 (Q1 FY26)· Real Estate· Apr 30, 2026

Source: earnings call transcript

Executive summary

Iron Mountain Q1 FY26 — Exceptional Growth Across All Key Metrics

Iron Mountain delivered an exceptionally strong first quarter, driven by robust performance in its growth businesses and record organic expansion. The company raised its full-year financial outlook, reflecting confidence in sustained double-digit top and bottom-line growth, fueled by significant data center leasing activity and expanding digital and ALM solutions.

Highlights

Revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO all grew 22% year-over-year, exceeding expectations.
Organic growth reached 17%, the highest rate in over 25 years.
Growth businesses (data, data center, ALM, and digital) grew over 50% in the quarter, now exceeding 30% of total revenue.
Data center leased approximately 22 megawatts in Q1 and an additional 10 megawatts in April, totaling 32 megawatts year-to-date.
Global RIM business achieved a quarterly record revenue of $1.4 billion, with 8% organic growth.

Concerns

Foreign Exchange Rate Fluctuations
Memory Supply Chain Shortages

Guidance & targets

Category	Target	Timeline	Confidence
Full-year 2026 Revenue	$7.825 billion to $7.925 billion high materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
Full-year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA	$2.925 billion to $2.965 billion high materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
Full-year 2026 AFFO	$1.735 billion to $1.755 billion high materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
Full-year 2026 AFFO per share	$5.79 to $5.86 high materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
Full-year 2026 ALM Revenue	$950 million medium materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
Full-year 2026 Capital Expenditure	slightly down from last year medium materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
Full-year 2026 Retained Cash Flow	at least $300 million ahead of last year medium materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
Q2 2026 Revenue	approximately $1.965 billion medium materiality	Q2 · 2026	High
Q2 2026 Adjusted EBITDA	approximately $715 million medium materiality	Q2 · 2026	High
Q2 2026 AFFO	approximately $418 million medium materiality	Q2 · 2026	High
Q2 2026 AFFO per share	$1.40 medium materiality	Q2 · 2026	High
Full-year 2026 Data Center Leasing	meaningfully above 100 MW high materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
IRS Department of Treasury Contract Revenue	$45 million medium materiality	FY26 · 2026	High
IRS Department of Treasury Contract Revenue	in excess of $100 million annually medium materiality	FY27 and beyond · 2027	High
Payout Ratio	low 60s percent low materiality	Long-term	High

Segment performance

Segment	Revenue	YoY	QoQ	Margin
Global RIM Achieved a quarterly record revenue. Performance was driven by revenue management, consistent positive volume trends, and sustained strength in the service business, including $9 million from the Department of Treasury contract. Organic Growth: 8%Storage Revenue Growth (reported): 9%Storage Revenue Growth (organic): 6%Service Revenue Growth: >16%Service Revenue Organic Growth: >12%	$1.4 billion	12%	—	44%
Global Data Center Growth was driven by lease commencements, positive pricing trends, and customers ramping power faster than expected. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 30 basis points below last year on a reported basis, but up 120 basis points year-over-year when correcting for power pass-through. New Leases Signed: 22 MWCommenced Leases: 24 MWRenewed Leases: 193 leases totaling 7 MWRenewal Pricing Spreads (cash): 12%Renewal Pricing Spreads (GAAP): 14%Future Development Capacity (Northern Virginia): 195 MW	$255 million	47%	—	52.1%
Asset Life Cycle Management (ALM) Driven by strong organic growth in both data center decommissioning and the enterprise channel. Recent acquisitions (Premier Surplus and ACT Logistics) contributed $17 million in revenue. The team's execution led to significant margin improvement year-over-year. Organic Growth: $93 million or 77%Data Center Decommissioning Organic Growth: >100%Enterprise Channel Organic Growth: >45%Acquisitions Revenue Contribution: $17 million	$232 million	92%	—	—

IRM operating KPIs by quarter

IRM operating KPIs stated on its earnings calls, by fiscal quarter
KPI	Dec 2024 Q4 FY24	Mar 2025 Q1 FY25	Sep 2025 Q3 FY25	Dec 2025 Q4 FY25	This call Mar 2026 Q1 FY26	Jun 2026 Q2 FY26	Change vs prior quarter
Leased capacity Data Center	10 MW As it relates to leasing, we had a very good year of activity in 2024, our third consecutive year where we leased more than 100 megawatts, including 10 megawatts in the fourth quarter. Source: earnings call transcript	—	13 MW We leased 13 megawatts in the quarter, including a couple of larger enterprise deals with financial services firms. Source: earnings call transcript	43 MW With 43 megawatts leased in the fourth quarter, we entered 2026 with strong momentum in leasing and have great assets in prime markets. Source: earnings call transcript	~22 MW We leased approximately 22 megawatts in the first quarter and another 10 megawatts in April, positioning us at 32 megawatts leased year-to-date. Source: earnings call transcript	30 MW We leased [ 30 ] megawatts in the second quarter and another 75 megawatts in July, bringing our year-to-date leasing to 110 megawatts. Source: earnings call transcript	—
Capital expenditures Growth	$685M Capital expenditures in the fourth quarter were $721 million with $685 million of growth and $36 million of recurring. Source: earnings call transcript	$629M Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $657 million with $629 million of growth and $28 million of recurring. Source: earnings call transcript	$472M In terms of capital investments, we invested $472 million of growth CapEx and $42 million of recurring CapEx in the third quarter. Source: earnings call transcript	$525M In terms of capital investments, we invested $525 million of growth CapEx and $43 million of recurring CapEx in the fourth quarter. Source: earnings call transcript	$492M In terms of capital investments, in the first quarter, we invested $492 million of growth CapEx and $35 million of recurring CapEx. Source: earnings call transcript	$553M In terms of capital investments, in the second quarter, we invested $553 million of growth CapEx and $38 million of recurring CapEx. Source: earnings call transcript	+12.4%
Capital expenditures Recurring	$36M Capital expenditures in the fourth quarter were $721 million with $685 million of growth and $36 million of recurring. Source: earnings call transcript	$28M Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $657 million with $629 million of growth and $28 million of recurring. Source: earnings call transcript	$42M In terms of capital investments, we invested $472 million of growth CapEx and $42 million of recurring CapEx in the third quarter. Source: earnings call transcript	$43M In terms of capital investments, we invested $525 million of growth CapEx and $43 million of recurring CapEx in the fourth quarter. Source: earnings call transcript	$35M In terms of capital investments, in the first quarter, we invested $492 million of growth CapEx and $35 million of recurring CapEx. Source: earnings call transcript	$38M In terms of capital investments, in the second quarter, we invested $553 million of growth CapEx and $38 million of recurring CapEx. Source: earnings call transcript	+8.6%

Operating figures the company stated on at least two of the calls shown, checked against each call's transcript. Click a figure to read the sentence. A dash means it was not stated that quarter.

Deals & partnerships

Google Award

Won Google Partner of the Year for media and entertainment, adding to the 2018 award for AI and machine learning.

U.S. Federal Government Certification

Achieved FedRAMP high authorization for Insight, enabling pursuit of high-value mission-critical workloads.

Canadian insurance company Customer contract

Signed a new deal to deploy Smart Reveal solution, processing more than 1 million files currently stored with Iron Mountain.

Global law firm Customer contract multiyear

Signed a new multiyear agreement to deploy Smart Sort solution across 6 U.S. locations, processing over 2 million files and onboarding 60,000 cubic feet of physical storage.

Brazilian clinical diagnostics firm Customer contract multiyear

Won an important new multiyear agreement to process over 20 million medical records using Iron Mountain's DXP platform with AI capabilities, integrated with customer systems.

U.S. health care center Customer contract

Won a new contract to improve patient data visibility, including Smart Sort for over 600,000 medical records and digital solutions for nearly 12 million images.

Existing ALM decommissioning customer Customer contract 10-year

Cross-sold and leased the entire 16-megawatt Miami site as part of a 10-year contract to support expansion of its cloud platform.

Major global cloud player Customer contract

Leased approximately 10 megawatts in Astegam to a new major global cloud player.

Global advertising company Customer contract multiyear

Signed a new multiyear agreement to be the sole enterprise-wide ALM services partner, managing decommissioning and remarketing of IT assets across more than 30 countries.

Existing data center customer Customer contract

Cross-sold to recycle and reuse 75,000 IT hardware items across the U.S., Europe, and APAC.

Global technology leader Customer contract multiyear

Signed a multiyear agreement to securely decommission, sanitize, and remarket 60,000 drives.

Risks & headwinds

Foreign Exchange Rate Fluctuations Q1 FY26

FX rates contributed approximately $40 million less in revenue than assumed in the outlook.

Memory Supply Chain Shortages Ongoing (expected to last a couple of years)

Shortage of memory components impacting server renewal cycles.

Mitigation:OEMs are requesting used memory harvested by Iron Mountain; uptick in servicing projects to harvest components from old servers for new builds.

Q&A highlights

Are there any constraints on CapEx for data center growth, and how does the current CapEx plan align with data center expansion?

Management stated there are no capital constraints for data center growth. With 400 MW of capacity energizing over the next 24 months and strong leasing activity, they expect to significantly exceed the 100 MW leasing guidance for the year. CapEx is expected to be slightly down from last year, as most construction is pre-leased.

“we don't have any constraint on capital in terms of the growth of the data center side.”

asked by Andrew Steinerman · answered by William Meaney

2 min read 5 chapters

Detailed narrative

Strong Q1 Performance & Outlook Raise

Iron Mountain commenced 2026 with an exceptional first quarter, surpassing expectations with 22% year-over-year growth in revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO. Organic growth hit a 25-year high of 17%. This strong performance led management to increase its full-year financial outlook, raising revenue guidance by $175 million, adjusted EBITDA by $45 million, and AFFO by $25 million at the midpoint, signaling confidence in continued double-digit growth.

Data Center Momentum

The data center business saw revenue increase 47% year-over-year, driven by lease commencements and faster customer power ramp-ups. The company leased 22 megawatts in Q1 and an additional 10 megawatts in April, bringing the year-to-date total to 32 megawatts. With 400 megawatts of available capacity energizing over the next 24 months, management expects to significantly exceed its original 100 MW leasing guidance for the year, with strong pricing and returns on new contracts.

ALM & Digital Solutions Growth

Asset Life Cycle Management (ALM) revenue surged 92% year-over-year, with organic growth of 77%, fueled by over 100% organic growth in data center decommissioning and over 45% in the enterprise channel. Digital Solutions also achieved record Q1 revenue, growing over 20% year-over-year, driven by traditional projects and new contracts for its AI-powered DXP platform.

The company raised its full-year ALM revenue outlook to $950 million, an increase of $100 million.

Government Business Expansion

Iron Mountain is significantly expanding its government business globally, achieving its second-best public sector bookings in company history during Q1. This growth is bolstered by the FedRAMP high authorization for its Insight digital services suite, which opens up high-value mission-critical workloads across the federal landscape.

The multi-year Department of Treasury contract contributed $9 million in Q1, with expectations of $45 million for 2026 and over $100 million annually from 2027.

Cross-Selling Success & Synergies

The company highlighted successful cross-selling efforts, particularly in ALM and digital solutions. Examples include deploying Smart Reveal for a Canadian insurer, Smart Sort for a global law firm, and DXP for a Brazilian clinical diagnostics firm. An existing ALM customer expanded into a 16-megawatt data center lease in Miami, demonstrating the synergistic value of Iron Mountain's diverse service offerings and integrated customer relationships.

Summary of the company's earnings call; see how call summaries are prepared. Not investment advice.