Medical Properties Trust (MPT) versus Its Competitors Critical Review

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) is one of 90 publicly-traded companies in the “Real Estate Investment Trusts” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Medical Properties Trust to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.7% of shares of all “Real Estate Investment Trusts” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Medical Properties Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of shares of all “Real Estate Investment Trusts” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medical Properties Trust	-75.76%	-14.82%	-4.78%
Medical Properties Trust Competitors	-34.96%	-18.35%	-0.28%

Dividends

Medical Properties Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Medical Properties Trust pays out -30.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Real Estate Investment Trusts” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.0% and pay out 104.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Medical Properties Trust is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medical Properties Trust	$995.55 million	-$2.41 billion	-4.85
Medical Properties Trust Competitors	$464.09 million	-$18.05 million	26.71

Medical Properties Trust has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its rivals. Medical Properties Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Volatility & Risk

Medical Properties Trust has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medical Properties Trust’s rivals have a beta of 1.15, indicating that their average stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Medical Properties Trust and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medical Properties Trust	1	0	1	0	2.00
Medical Properties Trust Competitors	2346	4058	2395	22	2.01

Medical Properties Trust currently has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 39.86%. As a group, “Real Estate Investment Trusts” companies have a potential upside of 12.74%. Given Medical Properties Trust’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Medical Properties Trust is more favorable than its rivals.

Summary

Medical Properties Trust beats its rivals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed to capitalize on the changing trends in healthcare delivery by acquiring and developing net-leased healthcare facilities. MPT’s financing model allows hospitals and other healthcare facilities to unlock the value of their underlying real estate in order to fund facility improvements, technology upgrades, staff additions and new construction. Facilities include acute care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, and other medical and surgical facilities.