Medical Properties (MPW) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Why

Medical Properties (MPW) ended the recent trading session at $4.25, demonstrating a -1.39% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.11%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.11%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.23%.

Heading into today, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had lost 2.71% over the past month, lagging the Finance sector's gain of 2.37% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.5% in that time.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Medical Properties in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.25, down 32.43% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $287.04 million, down 18.04% from the prior-year quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.19 per share and a revenue of $1.23 billion, representing changes of -25.16% and +41.47%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Medical Properties. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational 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, there's been a 1.78% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Medical Properties is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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Looking at valuation, Medical Properties is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 3.63. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.29, which means Medical Properties is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that MPW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.21. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.24 at yesterday's closing price.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 144, positioning it in the bottom 43% 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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Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPW) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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