UPDATE: Baird Upgrades Iron Mountain as Shares Underperformance Creates Opportunity

In a report published Monday, Baird Equity Research analyst Andrew Wittmann upgraded Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) from Neutral to Outperform based on attractive risk/ reward.

The departure of CFO of Iron Mountain Incorporated, Brian McKeon, last week further increased pressure on shares, already at low from June's announcement of the IRS's assessment of its conversion application. Wittmann commented, "YTD, the stock has now delivered 37 points of negative alpha, a dramatic level of underperformance." The analyst noted that this weakness provides opportunity to investors. Baird Equity also found IRM's dividend attractive at 4.3% with a potential upward bias.

Wittmann provided a strong case for Iron Mountain's core storage business which has consistently provided an approximate 3% organic growth over the past years. The analyst emphasized that the compnay's "pricing, flat-to-modest volume growth, and International expansion efforts, each of which helps support an annuity stream generating 30-40% EBITDA margins."

Baird maintained its $34 PT.

Iron Mountain Incorporated closed at $25.30 on Friday.