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4 Reasons to Add Medical Properties Stock to Your Portfolio

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Key Takeaways

  • MPW benefits from solid healthcare demand as an aging population drives higher medical spending.
  • MPW leases facilities having fixed lease terms of at least 15 years to healthcare operating companies.
  • MPW sold facilities for $20M in Q1 2025, improving its financial position and addressing tenants concerns.

Medical Properties Trust (MPW - Free Report) — also known as MPT —  is engaged in acquiring and developing net-leased healthcare facilities. Its properties consist of general acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities, post-acute care facilities, freestanding ER/urgent care facilities and other assets.

In the past six months, shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have gained 14% compared with the industry's growth of 5.3%. Given its solid fundamentals and positive estimate revisions, the stock is likely to keep performing well in the quarters ahead.

 

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Factors That Make Medical Properties Stock a Solid Pick

Favorable Healthcare Industry Fundamentals: The senior citizens’ population is expected to rise in the years ahead. As a result, the national healthcare expenditure by senior citizens, who constitute a major customer base of healthcare services and incur higher healthcare expenditures than the average population, will likely increase in the upcoming period.

Moreover, the healthcare sector is relatively immune to the macroeconomic problems faced by office, retail and apartment companies, and offers stability to the company amid volatility in the market. This is because even amid tough economic conditions, consumers need to spend on healthcare services while curtailing discretionary purchases.

Long-Term Leasing: Medical Properties leases facilities to healthcare operating companies. These facilities generally have initial fixed lease terms of at least 15 years, with most including five-year renewal options. More than 99% of its leases provide annual rent escalations based on increases in the Consumer Price Index.

Capital Recycling Strategy: Medical Properties disposes of non-core assets and redeploys the proceeds in premium asset acquisitions and accretive development projects. Such efforts also help the company improve its financial position and address the concerns surrounding the tenant base.

In the first quarter of 2025, MPT sold two facilities and an ancillary facility for approximately $20 million, resulting in a gain on real estate of $8.1 million. These two facilities were held for sale as of Dec. 31, 2024, along with a third facility that is expected to be sold during the second quarter of 2025.

Solid Blance Sheet Position: Medical Properties has been trying to enhance its liquidity position and financial strength. As of May 7, 2025, the company had approximately $1.3 billion of liquidity. After the February 2025 refinancing transactions, the company has no debt maturities due in the next 12 months. Its access to diverse capital sources through capital recycling and internal cash flow provides ample financial flexibility and is likely to support its growth endeavors.

Other Stocks to Consider

Other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are VICI Properties (VICI - Free Report) and W.P. Carey (WPC - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VICI’s 2025 FFO per share has moved one cent northward to $2.34 over the past two months.

The consensus estimate for WPC’s 2025 FFO per share has increased 1% to $4.88 over the past two months.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.


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W.P. Carey Inc. (WPC) - free report >>

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