Ahead of the Bell: Health care REITs

A Morgan Keegan analyst believes investors will sell shares of health care real estate investment trusts as the U.S. economy recovers, and he downgraded shares of five health care REITs.

On Friday, Robert Mains downgraded shares of HCP Inc., Health Care REIT Inc. Ventas Inc. and Nationwide Health Properties Inc. to "Market Perform" from "Outperform," and downgraded Healthcare Realty Trust Inc. to "Underperform" from "Market Perform."

Mains said investors have moved money to health care REITs and away from trusts that were more affected by economic factors, including industrial, residential, retail and office REITs. But he said the U.S. economy appears to be recovering, and he thinks health care REITs will fall as investors move funds back to other sectors.