Executive Summary

Record Q4 with revenue $1.58B (+11% y/y), Adjusted EBITDA $605M (+15% y/y), margin +130 bps to 38.3%, and AFFO $368M (+12% y/y), driven by strength across Global RIM, Data Center, and ALM .
Issued 2025 guidance: revenue $6.65–$6.80B (+8–11%), Adjusted EBITDA $2.475–$2.525B (+11–13%), and AFFO $1.45–$1.48B (+8–10%); Q1 2025 guide: revenue ~$1.59B, Adjusted EBITDA ~$575M, AFFO ~$342M, AFFO/share ~$1.15 .
Raised quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.785 effective Q1 2025 (from $0.715 in Q4 2024), reflecting continued AFFO growth and targeted payout ratio in low-to-mid 60s .
Strategic catalysts: data center pricing power and margin expansion; 94% of MW under construction pre-leased; 2024 leasing reached 116 MW; announced minority-stake JV with Ooredoo to expand data center footprint across MENA (AI/cloud demand) .

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well
- Broad-based beat vs internal targets: CFO cited Q4 Adjusted EBITDA ($605M) and AFFO/share ($1.24) ahead of the projection shared last quarter, supported by pricing and cost productivity .
- Data center acceleration: Q4 revenue +24% y/y to $170M; Adjusted EBITDA +51% with margin up ~930 bps y/y to 51.8%; price/kW up >40% in 2024 vs 2023; 94% of MW under construction already pre-leased .
- Capital return and confidence: 10% dividend increase; management reiterated double-digit consolidated growth outlook as growth businesses rise to ~25% of revenue; 2025 guide calls for ~10% organic growth .
What Went Wrong
- Revenue slightly below prior quarter’s ~$1.6B outlook as FX turned into a ~$10M sequential headwind and consumer storage mix was intentionally deemphasized to improve profitability; Q4 revenue was $1.581B .
- Data center churn spiked to 4.4% (one-time) due to two long-tenured customers shifting load to cloud; management expects 2025 churn to return toward ~5% for the year and space largely re-leased .
- Service gross margin compressed vs prior year (34.3% in Q4’24 vs 37.9% in Q4’23) on cost mix, even as storage profitability and consolidated EBITDA margin improved .

Financial Results

Overall P&L and cash metrics (oldest → newest):

Metric	Q4 2023	Q3 2024	Q4 2024
Total Revenue ($M)	$1,419.8	$1,557.4	$1,581.3
Storage Rental Revenue ($M)	$871.1	$935.7	$942.0
Service Revenue ($M)	$548.7	$621.7	$639.3
Adjusted EBITDA ($M)	$525.2	$568.1	$605.1
Adjusted EBITDA Margin (%)	37.0%	36.5%	38.3%
Net Income ($M)	$29.2	$(33.7)	$105.7
Reported Diluted EPS ($)	$0.10	$(0.11)	$0.35
Adjusted EPS ($)	$0.52	$0.44	$0.50
AFFO ($M)	$327.6	$332.0	$368.0
AFFO per Share ($)	$1.11	$1.13	$1.24

Segment performance (oldest → newest):

Segment	Metric	Q4 2023	Q3 2024	Q4 2024
Global RIM	Total Revenues ($M)	$1,192.7	$1,260.4	$1,258.3
	Adjusted EBITDA ($M)	$533.6	$569.0	$579.1
	Adj. EBITDA Margin (%)	44.7%	45.1%	46.0%
Data Center	Total Revenues ($M)	$137.2	$153.2	$170.2
	Adjusted EBITDA ($M)	$58.3	$66.8	$88.1
	Adj. EBITDA Margin (%)	42.5%	43.6%	51.8%
Corporate & Other	Total Revenues ($M)	$89.9	$143.8	$152.8
	Adjusted EBITDA ($M)	$(66.7)	$(67.7)	$(62.2)

Key KPIs (oldest → newest):

KPI	Q4 2023	Q3 2024	Q4 2024
Organic Storage Rental Revenue Growth (%)	10.4%	9.3%	8.8%
Organic Service Revenue Growth (%)	6.2%	10.0%	7.0%
Total Storage Volume (000s cubic ft)	731,541	732,997	733,571
Storage Facility Utilization (%)	79.6%	79.4%	79.6%
Records Mgmt Retention Rate (%)	92.9%	92.7%	92.6%
Data Center Leasable MW	255.4	364.7	416.2
Leased % – Total (by MW)	93.3%	96.8%	95.5%
New/Expansion kW Leased	4,535	9,205	9,664
Data Center Churn (%)	1.7%	0.5%	4.4%

Guidance Changes

Metric	Period	Previous Guidance	Current Guidance	Change
Total Revenue ($B)	FY 2025	— (first issuance)	$6.65 – $6.80	New
Adjusted EBITDA ($B)	FY 2025	—	$2.475 – $2.525	New
AFFO ($B)	FY 2025	—	$1.45 – $1.48	New
AFFO per Share ($)	FY 2025	—	$4.85 – $4.95	New
Revenue ($B)	Q1 2025	—	~ $1.59	New
Adjusted EBITDA ($B)	Q1 2025	—	~ $0.575	New
AFFO ($B)	Q1 2025	—	~ $0.342	New
AFFO per Share ($)	Q1 2025	—	~ $1.15	New
Dividend per Share ($)	Quarterly	$0.715 (Q4’24)	$0.785 (Q1’25)	Raised 10%

Notes: IRM does not reconcile non-GAAP guidance due to unavailable items without unreasonable effort .

Earnings Call Themes & Trends

Topic	Previous Mentions (Q2 & Q3 2024)	Current Period (Q4 2024)	Trend
Data center pricing & margins	2024 leasing projection raised to 130 MW; under construction 95.7% pre-leased; EBITDA margins mid-40s; strong cash/GAAP mark-to-market on renewals	Q4 DC revenue +24% y/y; EBITDA +51%; margin 51.8%; 94% of under-construction MW pre-leased; 2024 leasing 116 MW; price/kW up >40% y/y; pass on low-return mega-deal to preserve returns	Improving pricing power, disciplined growth
AI/technology initiatives	Emphasis on AI-ready DC capacity; digital solutions momentum	Customers’ dense AI workloads driving demand; JV with Ooredoo to expand MENA DC platform	Strengthening AI tailwinds
RIM volumes & pricing	Organic storage growth ~10%; revenue management key; volume stable	Volumes flat to slightly up expected in 2025; growth driven by pricing/revenue management	Stable volumes; pricing-led growth
ALM growth & component pricing	ALM expanding; acquisitions contributing	Q4 ALM +118% y/y to ~$112M; organic growth volume-led; component prices flattish	Scaling; profitability improving
FX/macro	FX headwinds in Q3 hit other income/expense	FX a ~$10M sequential headwind in Q4; consumer storage deemphasized for profitability	FX headwind moderating; mix improving
Capital allocation & leverage	Dividend increased 10% (Q2); leverage ~5.0x; growth capex >$1B YTD	10% dividend hike effective April; 2024 growth capex $1.76B; leverage 5.0x; 2025 growth capex plan ~$1.8B	Continued balanced growth/return

Management Commentary

“We achieved all-time highs for revenue, adjusted EBITDA and AFFO for the year and for the fourth quarter… Our portfolio of growth businesses… are collectively growing at a CAGR greater than 20%… As we enter 2025, the growth portfolio represents 25%” — CEO William Meaney .
“Adjusted EBITDA was $605 million… above the $595 million projection we provided on our last call... performance upside was driven by improved price margin realization and cost productivity” — CFO Barry Hytinen .
“We passed on a significant opportunity in the fourth quarter [leasing]… we’re not going to make short-term decisions just to hit a leasing number” — CEO on price discipline .
“94% of our under construction assets are already leased… strong adjusted EBITDA margin improvement in 2025… average price per kilowatt increasing more than 40% vs 2023” — CFO on DC visibility/pricing .
“RIM volumes flat to slightly up [in 2025]; most of the growth will be revenue management and pricing” — CEO/CFO on RIM trajectory .
“ALM organic growth was largely volume-driven… component prices flattish” — CFO on ALM drivers .

Q&A Highlights

Data center market and AI: Management sees no reduction in hyperscaler capex; robust pipeline; disciplined on returns (passed on low-priced deal); price/kW significantly higher, supporting margin expansion .
ALM dynamics: Organic growth driven by enterprise volume; component pricing broadly flat; pipeline supports 2025 growth .
RIM outlook: 2025 volumes flat-to-slightly up; pricing cadence more consistent vs 2024; ancillary services (Smart Sort, digitization-on-demand) differentiators .
Churn: Q4 churn 4.4% tied to two legacy customers moving to cloud; 2025 churn expected below historical levels and space largely re-leased .
Revenue shortfall vs outlook: FX (~$10M) and consumer storage deemphasis explained sequential revenue delta vs ~$1.6B outlook .

Estimates Context

S&P Global Wall Street consensus estimates were unavailable at the time of analysis due to data access limits (API rate exceeded). As a result, this report does not include comparisons to Street consensus for Q4 2024. When available, we default to S&P Global consensus for all estimate comparisons.

Key Takeaways for Investors

Mix shift toward higher-growth, higher-margin businesses (Data Centers, Digital Solutions, ALM) is accelerating consolidated margin expansion; FY25 guide implies continuing double-digit growth .
Data center pricing power and high pre-leasing underpin visibility; management’s return discipline (passing on low-priced megadeals) supports sustainable margin trajectory .
RIM provides a stable base (volumes flat to slightly up) with growth predominantly from revenue management and attach of digital/adjacent services .
ALM is scaling with improving profitability; growth is volume-led with neutral component pricing, reducing volatility vs prior cycles .
Balance sheet at ~5.0x net lease-adjusted leverage with ample liquidity supports ~$1.8B 2025 growth capex and a higher dividend, targeting low-to-mid 60s AFFO payout .
Near-term trading: positive setup from dividend hike, strong 2025 guide, and DC margin expansion; watch FX and service margin mix, and normalize DC churn after the Q4 spike .
Medium-term thesis: durable double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth driven by AI-enabled DC demand, digital transformation cross-sell, and ALM consolidation, with disciplined capital allocation and return on invested capital focus .

Additional details and non-GAAP definitions are provided in company materials; Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EPS, FFO, and AFFO are non-GAAP measures with reconciliations included in IRM’s filings and releases .

IRON MOUNTAIN INC (IRM)·Q4 2024 Earnings Summary