Iron Mountain draws 69% of its revenues from storing paper and another 31% from services mostly related to paper. One would think that this business was straightforward. And yet it is anything but that. It is a global business undergoing a major restructuring called Project Summit. It is also transitioning from a purely paper oriented business to one which also owns a sizeable position in data centers. Further, it is engaged in some capital recycling while also working hard to entice more “unvended” paper into its storage regime. And all of this right now in the middle of a pandemic.

The underlying complexity of the business has resulted in a number of different takes on its future, though most are favorable. For example, at close to the bottom rung of the ladder, Credit Suisse has a 12-month target price of $16.00, which is quite a drop from its closing price on 10/09/2020 of $$28.25. Most analysts see a much more sanguine outcome with the target price on Yahoo being $29.88 and on Microsoft Finance 33.00. One gets drawn into the question of why the differences? And for the most part, the differences appear to be a function where an analyst starts developing an analysis with the numbers provided.

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