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

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

Dividends

Iron Mountain pays an annual dividend of $3.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Equinix pays an annual dividend of $20.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Iron Mountain pays out 226.1% 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 pays out 124.0% 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 has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Equinix has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.1% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Equinix shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Equinix 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Iron Mountain and Equinix, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Iron Mountain	0	2	8	0	2.80
Equinix	0	4	26	2	2.94

Iron Mountain presently has a consensus target price of $140.22, indicating a potential upside of 23.27%. Equinix has a consensus target price of $1,234.13, indicating a potential upside of 17.11%. Given Iron Mountain’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Iron Mountain is more favorable than Equinix.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Iron Mountain	5.88%	-79.98%	3.37%
Equinix	16.38%	11.49%	3.96%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Iron Mountain and Equinix”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	$6.90 billion	4.91	$144.59 million	$1.53	74.35
Equinix	$9.22 billion	11.28	$1.35 billion	$16.65	63.29

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.

Risk and Volatility

Iron Mountain has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equinix has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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

About Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain Incorporated is an information management and storage company that helps organizations protect, manage and access physical and digital assets. Its services include records storage and management, secure document shredding, digitization and other information-management solutions. The company also operates data centers and provides services for businesses moving, storing and managing data. Its offerings extend to specialized storage and care for items such as artwork and other valuable collections.

About Equinix

Equinix, Inc. is a global digital infrastructure company that operates data centers where businesses can house their computing and networking equipment. Its colocation services support organizations seeking secure, reliable facilities for their IT systems. The company also provides interconnection services that enable customers to connect with cloud providers, networks, business partners and one another. Its Equinix Fabric platform offers software-defined connectivity, while its xScale facilities are designed to serve large-scale cloud and technology companies.