Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC – Get Free Report) and Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
96.0% of Equity Commonwealth shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Equity Commonwealth shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held 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.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Equity Commonwealth and Medical Properties Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Equity Commonwealth | $58.43 million | 2.90 | $91.16 million | $0.39 | 4.05 |
| Medical Properties Trust | $972.02 million | 2.80 | -$277.05 million | ($0.46) | -9.89 |
Equity Commonwealth has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings for Equity Commonwealth and Medical Properties Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Equity Commonwealth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Medical Properties Trust | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Profitability
This table compares Equity Commonwealth and Medical Properties Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Equity Commonwealth | 82.00% | 2.09% | 1.96% |
| Medical Properties Trust | -28.50% | -5.87% | -1.85% |
Risk & Volatility
Equity Commonwealth has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medical Properties Trust has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Equity Commonwealth beats Medical Properties Trust on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
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.
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