The latest trading session saw Medical Properties (MPW) ending at $4.77, denoting a -0.63% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.72%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.35%.

Coming into today, shares of the health care real estate investment trust had gained 20.3% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 3.24%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.02%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Medical Properties in its upcoming release. On that day, Medical Properties is projected to report earnings of $0.16 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 55.56%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $217.15 million, up 277.44% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Medical Properties. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Right now, Medical Properties possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Medical Properties is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 7.06. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 11.47 for its industry.

Also, we should mention that MPW has a PEG ratio of 0.88. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As the market closed yesterday, the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.15.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 158, this industry ranks in the bottom 38% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPW) : Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research