Comparing Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC) and Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT)

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) and Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and Equity Commonwealth’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medical Properties Trust	-28.50%	-5.87%	-1.85%
Equity Commonwealth	82.00%	2.09%	1.96%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Equity Commonwealth shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Equity Commonwealth shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Medical Properties Trust has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Commonwealth has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Medical Properties Trust and Equity Commonwealth, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medical Properties Trust	2	2	2	0	2.00
Equity Commonwealth	0	0	0	0	0.00

Medical Properties Trust presently has a consensus target price of $6.75, indicating a potential upside of 37.06%. Given Medical Properties Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Medical Properties Trust is more favorable than Equity Commonwealth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and Equity Commonwealth”s top-line 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	3.03	-$277.05 million	($0.46)	-10.71
Equity Commonwealth	$58.43 million	2.90	$91.16 million	$0.39	4.05

Equity Commonwealth has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Medical Properties Trust. Medical Properties Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Commonwealth, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Equity Commonwealth beats Medical Properties Trust on 8 of the 14 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 Equity Commonwealth

Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) is a Chicago based, internally managed and self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) with commercial office properties in the United States. EQC's portfolio is comprised of four properties totaling 1.5 million square feet.