Head to Head Review: Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) & Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW)

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) and Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Medical Properties Trust has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and Mid-America Apartment Communities”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medical Properties Trust	$641.32 million	4.47	-$556.48 million	($4.22)	-1.13
Mid-America Apartment Communities	$2.19 billion	8.76	$527.54 million	$4.48	36.65

Mid-America Apartment Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Medical Properties Trust. Medical Properties Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mid-America Apartment Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Medical Properties Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Medical Properties Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Medical Properties Trust pays out -7.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 135.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mid-America Apartment Communities has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Medical Properties Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Medical Properties Trust and Mid-America Apartment Communities, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medical Properties Trust	0	6	1	0	2.14
Mid-America Apartment Communities	1	8	10	1	2.55

Medical Properties Trust presently has a consensus target price of $4.92, indicating a potential upside of 2.97%. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a consensus target price of $167.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.71%. Given Medical Properties Trust’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Medical Properties Trust is more favorable than Mid-America Apartment Communities.

Profitability

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and Mid-America Apartment Communities’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medical Properties Trust	N/A	-38.83%	-15.05%
Mid-America Apartment Communities	24.03%	8.53%	4.52%

Summary

Mid-America Apartment Communities beats Medical Properties Trust on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 to acquire and develop net-leased hospital facilities. From its inception in Birmingham, Alabama, the Company has grown to become one of the world's largest owners of hospital real estate with 441 facilities and approximately 44,000 licensed beds as of September 30, 2023. Since the end of the third quarter, the Company has sold four facilities and now owns approximately 43,000 licensed beds in nine countries across three continents. MPT's financing model facilitates acquisitions and recapitalizations and allows operators of hospitals to unlock the value of their real estate assets to fund facility improvements, technology upgrades and other investments in operations.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the operation, acquisition, and development of apartment communities. It operates through the Same Store and Non-Same Store segments. The Same Store Communities segment represents those apartment communities that have been owned and stabilized for at least 12 months as of the first day of the calendar year. The Non-Same Store segment includes recent acquisitions, communities in development or lease-up. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Germantown, TN.