Medical Properties Trust Earnings Preview

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW  ) hasn't been able to establish an earnings trend, bouncing between beating and falling short of estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Medical Properties Trust is a self-advised real estate investment trust which acquires, develops, leases, and makes other investments in healthcare facilities.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Medical Properties Trust with five of seven analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Medical Properties Trust as much as competitor National Health Investors overall. Two out of five analysts rate National Health Investors a buy compared to one of seven for Medical Properties Trust. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained unchanged in their opinion of the stock.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $39.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 36.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.18 per share. Estimates range from $0.15 to $0.19.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 94.7% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 91.8% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Medical Properties Trust and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 102 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Medical Properties Trust, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
The company's revenue has now risen for two straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows net margins over the past four quarters.

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Medical Properties Trust movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.