Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) vs. National Healthcare Properties (NASDAQ:NHP) Head-To-Head Comparison

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) and National Healthcare Properties (NASDAQ:NHP) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Medical Properties Trust and National Healthcare Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medical Properties Trust	1	1	0	0	1.50
National Healthcare Properties	0	5	5	0	2.50

Medical Properties Trust presently has a consensus target price of $4.50, suggesting a potential downside of 2.81%. National Healthcare Properties has a consensus target price of $17.12, suggesting a potential upside of 11.27%. Given National Healthcare Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe National Healthcare Properties is more favorable than Medical Properties Trust.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of National Healthcare Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of National Healthcare Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Medical Properties Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. National Healthcare Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Medical Properties Trust pays out -171.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and National Healthcare Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medical Properties Trust	$972.02 million	2.85	-$277.05 million	($0.21)	-22.05
National Healthcare Properties	$342.12 million	3.28	N/A	N/A	N/A

National Healthcare Properties has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Medical Properties Trust.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medical Properties Trust	-12.59%	-2.70%	-0.84%
National Healthcare Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

National Healthcare Properties beats Medical Properties Trust on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.