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Medical Properties (MPW) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Medical Properties (MPW - Free Report) closed at $15.55 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.83% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.3%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.46%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.28%.

Heading into today, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had gained 4.6% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's loss of 0.23% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.51% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Medical Properties as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Medical Properties to post earnings of $0.45 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 4.65%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $396.31 million, up 3.8% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.83 per share and revenue of $1.6 billion, which would represent changes of +4.57% and +3.51%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Medical Properties should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.52% lower. Medical Properties is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.

Investors should also note Medical Properties's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 8.59. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.64.

Also, we should mention that MPW has a PEG ratio of 0.86. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. MPW's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.37 as of yesterday's close.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 74, putting it in the top 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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