A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Welltower (WELL Quick QuoteWELL - Free Report) . Shares have added about 39.8% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Welltower due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.

Welltower Surpasses Q1 FFO Estimates, Revenues Miss

Welltower reported normalized FFO per share of $1.02 in first-quarter 2020, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.01. The reported figure remained unchanged year over year.

The company’s SHO portfolio was severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the segment witnessed $7 million of unexpected property-level expenses related to the virus outbreak in March 2020. This impacted the company’s normalized FFO per share.

Moreover, it generated revenues of $1.26 billion, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.28 billion. The top line also compared unfavorably with the year-earlier quarter’s reported figure of $1.27 billion.

Quarter in Detail

Welltower's pro-rata gross investments in the first quarter totaled $538 million. This included $398 billion in acquisitions (four transactions) and $141 million in development funding.

Apart from this, the company completed property dispositions of $708 million, while loan payoffs summed $9 million.

It exited the quarter with $303 million of cash and cash equivalents, up from $249.1 million recorded a year ago. In addition, as of Mar 31, 2020, it had $2.2 billion of available borrowing capacity under its unsecured credit facility.

Share Repurchase

In first-quarter 2020, the company’s board of directors authorized a share repurchase program of up to $1 billion of common stock through Dec 31, 2021.

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

It turns out, estimates revision flatlined during the past month.

VGM Scores

Currently, Welltower has an average Growth Score of C, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with a D. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Welltower has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.