Comparing Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) & Regency Centers (NASDAQ:REG)

Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) and Regency Centers (NASDAQ:REG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Iron Mountain and Regency Centers’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Iron Mountain	$5.48 billion	5.71	$184.23 million	$0.66	161.65
Regency Centers	$1.32 billion	9.82	$364.56 million	$2.05	34.29

Regency Centers has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Iron Mountain. Regency Centers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Iron Mountain, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Iron Mountain and Regency Centers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Iron Mountain	1	0	6	0	2.71
Regency Centers	0	1	10	0	2.91

Iron Mountain presently has a consensus target price of $95.29, indicating a potential downside of 10.69%. Regency Centers has a consensus target price of $70.64, indicating a potential upside of 0.49%. Given Regency Centers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Regency Centers is more favorable than Iron Mountain.

Risk & Volatility

Iron Mountain has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Regency Centers has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Iron Mountain pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Regency Centers pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Iron Mountain pays out 393.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Regency Centers pays out 130.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Regency Centers is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Iron Mountain and Regency Centers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Iron Mountain	3.94%	595.44%	3.06%
Regency Centers	27.60%	5.58%	3.12%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.1% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Regency Centers shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Regency Centers shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Regency Centers beats Iron Mountain on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) is a global leader in information management services. Founded in 1951 and trusted by more than 240,000 customers worldwide, Iron Mountain serves to protect and elevate the power of our customers' work. Through a range of offerings including digital transformation, data centers, secure records storage, information management, asset lifecycle management, secure destruction and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps businesses bring light to their dark data, enabling customers to unlock value and intelligence from their stored digital and physical assets at speed and with security, while helping them meet their environmental goals.

About Regency Centers

Regency Centers is a preeminent national owner, operator, and developer of shopping centers located in suburban trade areas with compelling demographics. Our portfolio includes thriving properties merchandised with highly productive grocers, restaurants, service providers, and best-in-class retailers that connect to their neighborhoods, communities, and customers. Operating as a fully integrated real estate company, Regency Centers is a qualified real estate investment trust (REIT) that is self-administered, self-managed, and an S&P 500 Index member.