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Medical Properties (MPW) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Medical Properties (MPW - Free Report) closed at $23.45, marking a -0.76% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.64% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.68%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.46%.

Coming into today, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had gained 10.63% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 4.31%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.56%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Medical Properties as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Medical Properties to post earnings of $0.44 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.32%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $397.6 million, up 19.11% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Medical Properties. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Medical Properties is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Medical Properties is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 13.5. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.77, so we one might conclude that Medical Properties is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can also see that MPW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.71. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.03 at yesterday's closing price.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 103, putting it in the top 41% 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.

To follow MPW in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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