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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 the most recent trading day at $20.19, moving +1.92% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.06% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.72%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.64%.

Heading into today, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had lost 2.7% over the past month, lagging the Finance sector's loss of 1.97% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.17% in that time.

Medical Properties will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Medical Properties is projected to report earnings of $0.47 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 11.9%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $410.32 million, up 13.11% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.87 per share and revenue of $1.64 billion, which would represent changes of +6.86% and +6.27%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Medical Properties. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Medical Properties currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.61. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 15.37, which means Medical Properties is trading at a discount to the group.

It is also worth noting that MPW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.62. 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 industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.9 as of yesterday's close.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, which puts it in the top 38% 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.

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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