With roots dating back to 1951, Accenture (ACN) is one of the largest professional services companies in the world and provides a range of end-to-end services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital (marketing, analytics, mobility), technology infrastructure, and operations. Accenture essentially develops and implements technology-driven solutions to improve its clients’ productivity and efficiency. Serving more than 40 industries, Accenture delivers virtually every business function needed by its customers. The company's clients include 92 of the Fortune Global 100 and over 75% of the Fortune Global 500. 

Founded in 1968, Waste Management (WM) owns the largest network of recycling facilities, transfer stations, landfills, and processing plants in North America. The company makes money by entering into contracts with customers to collect, transport, process, store, and dispose of their waste. In just 30 years of operation, the company has built an impressive and diverse base of more than 22 million customers spread across municipal, residential, commercial and industrial segments in the U.S. and Canada.  During 2018, WM’s biggest customer represented just 1% of its annual revenues. The public sector (municipal customers) accounts for 21% of the firm's revenue, and the largest private industries are retail and offices at 10% each. 

Shares of Iron Mountain (IRM) are down more than 7% today following a downgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Funk.  Citing a sharp slump in the price of recycled paper, Funk believes that Iron Mountain will be forced to reduce its 2019 guidance, which calls for 2-2.5% organic sales growth and EBITDA growth of about 3-4%. The REIT next reports results on August 1, so it will be a few weeks until we have a formal update from management. However, the market is clearly anxious about this risk. 

In June 2015 our Long-term Dividend Growth portfolio initiated a position in MSC Industrial (MSM) at a price of $69.81 per share. MSM shares closed at $69.55 today, virtually unchanged from the date of our purchase and matching the price they traded at eight years ago in July 2011. MSC Industrial hasn't lost us money, but the company's performance has been a major disappointment given the broader market's strong rally. Not even news of a 19% dividend increase today could help the stock overcome another weak earnings report, which pushed shares lower by about 4%.