Financial Contrast: Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) and 36Kr (NASDAQ:KRKR)

Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) and 36Kr (NASDAQ:KRKR) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Iron Mountain and 36Kr, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Iron Mountain	0	0	6	1	3.14
36Kr	0	0	0	0	0.00

Iron Mountain currently has a consensus target price of $116.83, suggesting a potential upside of 15.55%. Given Iron Mountain’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Iron Mountain is more favorable than 36Kr.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Iron Mountain and 36Kr”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Iron Mountain	$6.15 billion	4.86	$180.16 million	$0.14	722.19
36Kr	$31.66 million	0.45	-$19.00 million	($6.00)	-1.20

Iron Mountain has higher revenue and earnings than 36Kr. 36Kr is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Iron Mountain, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Iron Mountain has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, 36Kr has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Iron Mountain and 36Kr’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Iron Mountain	0.66%	-146.80%	2.83%
36Kr	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.1% of Iron Mountain shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of 36Kr shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Iron Mountain shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.4% of 36Kr shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Iron Mountain beats 36Kr on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About 36Kr

36Kr Holdings Inc. provides content and business services in the People's Republic of China. It creates and distributes various content, including insightful reports on companies and industries, timely market updates, thought-provoking editorials, and commentaries, as well as original video and audio content in various industries, such as technology, consumer, retail, healthcare, media and entertainment, and enterprise services. The company's business services include online advertising services; enterprise value-added services, such as integrated marketing, advertisement agent, online/offline event, and consulting services; and subscription services to individuals, institutional investors, and enterprises. 36Kr Holdings Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.