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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 at $22.11 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.41% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.87%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.08%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.34%.

Coming into today, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had gained 1.19% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 2.89%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.7%.

Medical Properties will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.46, up 12.2% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $398.01 million, up 19.23% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.75 per share and revenue of $1.53 billion. These totals would mark changes of +11.46% and +22.78%, respectively, from last year.

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

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% lower. Medical Properties is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Medical Properties is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.6. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.01, so we one might conclude that Medical Properties is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that MPW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.59. 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. REIT and Equity Trust - Other stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.94 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 118, putting it in the top 47% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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