Iron Mountain (IRM-N)

Down 3% this year. A REIT, they have transitioned into land for data centres. Also run a business that helps other businesses wipe out their old data. Shares pulled back in September after management said it will invest heavily in their ongoing transition. Shares have rebounded since then. Trades at 16x 2023 funds from operation, and pays a 4.9% dividend.

Likes their recent pivot into data centres, but this stock has fallen a lot. They used to be a paper-management business (i.e. document shredding). In 2014, they became a REIT and soon moved into data management (away from paper) via several acquisitions. Data centres are a strong revenue generator and also moving into de-commissioning old work computers (to protect sensitive data on them). It's taken a while to turnaround, but last year they started to gel. Earnings grew 14% in 2021 and shares rallied 77% after. Now, they have over 25 million customers. Shares peaked in April, then tanked in the summer. Pays a 5.2% dividend yield, but it competes with 4.5% from 2-year treasuries 9s bond yield rise). Storage accounts for 64% of revenues, 36% from service. They target for 2025 $7.3 billion in revenues ($4.5 billion in 2021) which he finds possible. Valuation is cheap. Buy.

A good, consistent business (REIT) and pays a 5% dividend.

Pays a good yield and is a consistent business.

They've gone digital from owning physical to digital record shortage centres. It's a REIT and pays a 5.5% dividend. The stock is up over 50% YTD.

(Top pick Sept. 27/10, Up 47.45%)

Data storage. Very strong cash flow. Are going to take their physical business and digitize it. A classic value play.

(Was a top pick on May 25 up 1%) Still likes. Strong growth area.

Good economy of scale. Expect to see 6/7% internal cash flow plus acquisition cash flow growth.

Type of business means a re-occurring income. Would grow at least 6% even if they had no future sales.

Big cash flow. Big contracts. Cheap stock.