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Medical Properties (MPW) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Medical Properties (MPW - Free Report) closed at $15.68 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.82% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.45% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.67%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.05%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had gained 5.82% over the past month. This has outpaced the Finance sector's loss of 3.17% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.89% in that time.

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 $0.45 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 4.65%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $396.31 million, up 3.8% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.83 per share and revenue of $1.6 billion, which would represent changes of +4.57% and +3.51%, 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 such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.53% lower. Medical Properties is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In terms of valuation, Medical Properties is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.62. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.62.

Also, we should mention that MPW has a PEG ratio of 0.86. 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. REIT and Equity Trust - Other stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.37 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 75, which puts it in the top 30% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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