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Medical Properties (MPW) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Medical Properties (MPW - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $11.32, moving +1.52% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.41%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.11%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 6.67%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had lost 11.79% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's loss of 3.99% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.4% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Medical Properties as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.43, down 8.51% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $383.28 million, down 6.36% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.81 per share and revenue of $1.55 billion. These totals would mark changes of +3.43% and +0.55%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Medical Properties should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% lower. Medical Properties is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Medical Properties is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 6.15. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.66.

Investors should also note that MPW has a PEG ratio of 0.62 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.97 at yesterday's closing price.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 163, which puts it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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