Iron Mountain Earnings Call Highlights Data-Led Surge

Iron Mountain ((IRM)) has held its Q1 earnings call. Read on for the main highlights of the call.

Iron Mountain’s latest earnings call struck an upbeat tone, with management emphasizing broad outperformance across revenue, profitability and cash flow. Executives pointed to surging demand in data centers, asset lifecycle management and digital solutions, while traditional records management also delivered robust growth, allowing the company to raise full-year guidance despite acknowledged pockets of volatility.

Strong Top-Line Performance

Iron Mountain delivered total revenue of $1.94 billion, up $344 million year over year, representing 22% reported growth and 19% in constant currency. Organic growth reached 17%, the highest first-quarter rate in more than 25 years, underscoring both the resilience of the core storage franchise and accelerating traction in higher-growth digital and data offerings.

Record Profitability and Cash Generation

Adjusted EBITDA rose 22% to $708 million, with margins edging up 20 basis points to 36.6%, while AFFO climbed 22% to $426 million or $1.43 per share, beating management’s prior projection. Operating cash flow jumped to $339 million, up $141 million year over year, marking the strongest first-quarter cash generation in the company’s history and reinforcing balance sheet flexibility.

Raised Full-Year Financial Guidance

On the back of the strong start, management lifted its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $7.825 billion to $7.925 billion, implying roughly 14% growth at the midpoint. Adjusted EBITDA guidance increased to $2.925 billion to $2.965 billion, while AFFO is now projected between $1.735 billion and $1.755 billion, or $5.79 to $5.86 per share, about 13% growth.

Data-Related Growth Engines Accelerate

The company’s data-related portfolio, spanning data centers, ALM and digital solutions, grew more than 50% and now represents over 30% of total revenue, signaling a meaningful mix shift toward faster-growing businesses. Digital solutions alone posted record first-quarter revenue with growth above 20%, benefiting from increasing customer demand for digitization and data-intensive workflows.

Data Center Momentum and Development

Global data center revenue reached $255 million, up 47% year over year, fueled by large-scale cloud and enterprise demand. Iron Mountain signed 22 megawatts of new leases and commenced 24 megawatts in the quarter, has leased around 32 megawatts year to date including April, and expanded future development capacity in Northern Virginia by 20% to 195 megawatts.

ALM Surge and Upgraded Outlook

Asset lifecycle management continued its breakout, with revenue of $232 million, up 92% reported and 77% organically, reflecting strong enterprise refresh cycles and decommissioning projects. Management raised its full-year ALM revenue outlook to $950 million, adding $100 million versus prior guidance, with $40 million of that upside already captured in the first quarter.

Resilient Records Management and Services

Legacy records and information management remained a sturdy foundation, as total storage revenue climbed 15% to $1.1 billion and service revenue rose 31% to $841 million. Global RIM revenue reached a quarterly record of $1.4 billion, up 12% reported and 8% organically, highlighting enduring box retention and steady service utilization across the global customer base.

Strategic Commercial Wins and Certifications

Iron Mountain highlighted several major commercial wins, including high-profile government digitization contracts such as a ramping engagement with a large U.S. tax authority that is expected to scale meaningfully over the next few years. The company also secured FedRAMP High authorization for its InSight platform, gained partner recognition from a leading cloud provider and closed significant cross-sell deals, including large data center leases in Miami and Amsterdam.

Capital Allocation and Balance Sheet Discipline

The company invested $492 million in growth capital expenditures and $35 million in recurring CapEx in the quarter, while signaling that full-year CapEx should be slightly lower than last year. Net lease adjusted leverage improved to 4.8 times, its best level since before the REIT conversion, and the board maintained a quarterly dividend of $0.864 per share, keeping the payout ratio near the 61% target.

Data Center Margins and Pass-Through Costs

Data center adjusted EBITDA margins came in at 52.1%, about 30 basis points below the prior year, but management stressed that power costs are largely pass-through and distort the headline margin. When excluding power, data center margins actually improved by 120 basis points, illustrating that underlying profitability is strengthening even as pass-through dynamics add quarter-to-quarter noise.

FX and Currency Sensitivity

Foreign exchange provided a roughly $40 million revenue tailwind versus last year, though the benefit was slightly below prior assumptions due to a stronger dollar. Importantly, the updated guidance is built on the same FX rates as before, signaling that incremental upgrades are driven by operational performance rather than currency and underscoring ongoing sensitivity to future FX moves.

ALM Volatility and Memory Pricing

Management acknowledged that ALM results are influenced by memory pricing, which moved higher during the quarter, softened in late March and early April and has since stabilized. They also cautioned that project work in ALM can be uneven, with some contracts causing lumpy quarterly revenue, adding timing risk even as the long-term growth trajectory remains firmly positive.

Revenue Management and Near-Term Comparisons

The company’s revenue management actions, including price initiatives, were largely implemented in late January, with additional cohorts planned later this year, supporting the strong first-quarter print. However, management warned that second-quarter comparisons will be somewhat tougher because last year’s actions were timed differently, affecting the year-over-year growth optics despite underlying momentum.

Hyperscaler Concentration and Leasing Lumpiness

Data center leasing is increasingly driven by hyperscaler customers who sign large, multi-quarter deals, which management expects will push total leasing above its prior 100 megawatt guide. At the same time, this concentration introduces significant quarterly lumpiness in deal timing, meaning investors should focus on multi-year leasing trends rather than near-term cadence.

Upgraded Guidance and Outlook

Iron Mountain raised its full-year outlook, now targeting about 14% revenue growth at the midpoint and a similar uplift in adjusted EBITDA, with AFFO expected to increase roughly 13%, while second-quarter guidance points to mid-teens growth across key metrics. The company also lifted ALM revenue expectations to $950 million, projected retained cash flow to be at least $300 million higher than last year and signaled slightly lower CapEx, all while maintaining a stable dividend and improved leverage.

Iron Mountain’s earnings call painted a picture of a company successfully balancing high-growth digital and data initiatives with the cash-generating stability of its records business. With upgraded guidance, strong cash flow, and a deepening presence in data centers and ALM, management conveyed confidence in sustained double-digit growth, even as investors must navigate FX, project timing and hyperscaler-driven volatility.