Iron Mountain (IRM - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company forecast 2011 EPS of $1.17 to $1.26 on revenue of $3.2 to $3.265 billion. Analysts have forecast 2011 EPS of $1.31 on revenue of $3.33 billion. The company also announced a $200M buyback program today in an effort to encourage investors, but so far today, traders are reacting very negatively. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on IRM.

This morning, IRM opened at $21.34. So far today the stock has hit a high of $21.34 and a low of $20.06. As of 12:05, IRM is trading at $20.79, down $1.58 (-7.0%). The chart for IRM looks neutral and S&P gives IRM a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Analyst Upgrades

• Kaufman Bros. upgraded Baidu (BIDU) to buy from hold and raised its target price for shares to $690 from $540 after Google (GOOG) said it has stopped censoring its search services on Google.cn in China. The firm believes the Chinese government is likely to restrict access to Google's site now, a move that would benefit Baidu.
• Baird upgraded Autoliv (ALV) to outperform from neutral and raised its target to $60 from $47. The firm cites valuation and strong revenue performance for the upgrade.
• Jesup & Lamont upgraded Tiffany (TIF) to buy from hold following the company's Q4 results and better-than-expected guidance. The firm has a $55 price target for shares.
• Automatic Data Processing (ADP) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Cowen.
• American Superconductor (AMSC) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Saks (SKS) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.

So, here is the question: do you want to complain that the stock market closed out 2009 on a down day, or do you want to talk about how the DJIA was up 20% and the S&P was up 24% going into today? Exactly! Today was marked by very light trading volume, as you always see on the New Year's Eve trading session, and by profit taking in many major stocks. Today's drop in jobless claims was the lowest since summer of 2008.

Today's unofficial closing bell numbers:

Dow 10,426.46 -122.05 (-1.16%)
S&P 500 1,114.97 -11.45 (-1.02%)
Nasdaq 2,269.15 -22.13 (-0.97%)

Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM - option chain) shares have moved higher today after the stock was added to the Standard & Poor's S&P 500 index.

IRM is replacing UST Inc. (NYSE: UST), which was bought out by Altria Group (NYSE: MO). This usually causes a surge in stock value as all the ETFs that track the S&P 500 now have to rush to add IRM positions. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on IRM.

IRM opened this morning at $21.45. As of this writing, the stock has hit a low of $21.40 and a high of $37.24. As of 12:45, IRM is trading at $22.99, up $3.16 (15.9%). The chart for IRM looks neutral and S&P gives IRM a 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an April bull-put credit spread below the $15 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in just four months as long as IRM is above $15 at April expiration. Iron Mountain would have to fall by more than 34% before we would start to lose money.

IRM hasn't been below $16 at all in the past year and has shown support around $19.50 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in IRM.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: McGraw-Hill, Curis and Azure Dynamics were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Jefferies initiated McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) with a Buy rating and $49 target. The firm believes the downturn in credit markets has already been fully priced into shares and expects the stock to gain momentum throughout 2008 in anticipation of liquidity returning to credit markets.
  
• RBC Capital initiated Curis (NASDAQ: CRIS) with an Outperform rating and $2.50 target based on the company's partnership with Genentech (NYSE: DNA) and potential upside from its pipeline.
  
• Merriman started Azure Dynamics (OTC: AZDDF) with a Buy rating. The firm believes the company's focus is where customers see the most benefit from a medium-duty hybrid or market-appropriate solutions and finds the stock attractively valued.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Dr. Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS) was assumed with a Market Perform rating at Wachovia.
  
• Morgan Stanley started Chiquita Brands (NYSE: CQB) with an Equal Weight rating.
  
• Credit Suisse initiated Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) with a Neutral rating and $34 target.

Safe storage and document management is a prime concern for any company. One of the most highly recognized and consulted experts in the business is headquartered in Boston.

Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) is one of the largest information storage firms in the world, offering comprehensive records management, data protection, regulatory compliance and disaster recovery services. The company handles paper documents, computer records, microfilms, tapes, X-rays and blueprints for more than 100,000 corporate clients throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific.

The firm surprised the Street late last month, when it reported Q3 EPS of 25 cents and revenues of $702 million. Analysts had been expecting 18 cents and $687.2 million. Management also guided FY07 revenues to $2.70-$2.72 billion ($2.69B consensus) and announced the acquisition of electronic discovery specialist Stratify. The news popped the shares out of an October "cup" into the November "handle" of a Cup & Handle formation. The price is now showing signs of completing the pattern with a bullish rise from the right-hand side of the "handle."

Brokers recommend the issue with four "strong buys," two "buys," three "holds" and a single "sell." Analysts expect a 19% average annual growth rate through the next five years. The IRM Price to Sales ratio (2.74), Price to Book ratio (4.15) and EPS Growth rate (92.31%), compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 95% of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $25.05 and $38.16. A stop-loss of $31 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Kelly Services, Iron Mountain, Covenant Transportation and the biotech sector were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Merrill Lynch upgraded Kelly Services Inc (NASDAQ: KELYA) to Neutral from Sell and Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) to Buy from Neutral after they adjusted estimates in the group to reflect risks of a recession in the U.S.
  
• AG Edwards upgraded shares of Covenant Transportation Group (NASDAQ: CVTI) to Buy from Hold as they believe the stock is oversold after the company was able to renegotiate its debt covenants without significant cost increases.
• Bernstein upgraded the biotech sector citing valuation and typical seasonality for the group. The firm reiterated shares of Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN), Genentech Inc (NYSE: DNA), Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: GILD), Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) with Outperform ratings...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Wedbush. The firm also upgraded shares of Kenexa Corporation (NASDAQ: KNXA) to Buy from Hold.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of United Microelectronics (NYSE: UMC) to Buy from Hold.
  
• UBS upgraded shares of Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) to Buy from Neutral on valuation.
  
• Lehman Brothers upped regulated utilities to Neutral from Negative, and Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE: PEG) and Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE: WEC) to Overweight from Equal Weight.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: SanDisk Corp (SNDK) was the only notable company initiated today:

• Nollenberger believes SanDisk Corp (NASDAQ: SNDK) is going through a "tough patch" due to oversupply in the market and feels Micron Technology (MU) offers a better risk/reward at current levels; the firm started SanDisk with a Neutral rating and $42 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• WR Hambrecht started Universal Electronics (NASDAQ: UEIC) with a Hold on valuation.

• CIBC initiated Iron Mountain Inc (NYSE: IRM) with a Sector Performer.

• SuperValu (NYSE: SVU) was initiated at Credit Suisse with an Outperform rating. The firm expects investors to not fully appreciate SuperValu's robust earnings power and free cash flow following acquisition of Albertson's stores.

• RBC initiated Kayne Anderson Energy Development (NYSE: KED) with a Sector Perform as the firm believes limited publicly-available information on private investments makes valuations problematic.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).