Market downturns often present attractive buying opportunities for long-term investors to build significant wealth. That's because even quality companies tend to be beaten down amid declines in the broader market.
Medical Properties Trust (MPW 2.65%) and Simon Property Group (SPG 0.96%), respectively, have dipped 26% and 32% so far this year. This is considerably worse than the S&P 500 index's 14% drop year to date. Let's dig into why these two ultra-high-yield real estate investment trusts (REITs) look like buys for investors seeking bargains.
1. Medical Properties Trust
As the owner of more than 440 hospital properties throughout the world valued at over $22 billion, Medical Properties Trust is a leading source of capital for hospitals.
Hospitals can use these capital proceeds to upgrade medical equipment, expand services, and reduce debt. This is why Medical Properties Trust's tenants agree to terms that are also a win for the REIT.
Tenants are obligated to pay a base rent check to the company each month and all of the expenses associated with leased properties. Since Medical Properties Trust only has to pay for the operating expenses to run its business and not its properties, the business model is a lucrative one.
The company's initial lease terms span from 10 years to 20 years. Given that less than 1% of hospitals shut down every year, this translates into a great deal of visibility for Medical Properties Trust's annualized base rent. The icing on the cake is that 99% of the company's leases enjoy annual escalators that are fixed or tied to local inflation indices.
This is how Medical Properties Trust has been able to steadily grow its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share year in and year out. With a penetration rate of about 2% of the $1 trillion global hospital real estate market, the company should have decades of growth ahead.
And the dividend payout ratio of 80% leaves Medical Properties Trust with the funds necessary to keep acquiring properties. Best of all, income investors can pick up shares of the stock and its monstrous 7.2% dividend yield at a trailing-12-month price-to-AFFO-per-share ratio of around merely 12.
Image source: Getty Images.
2. Simon Property Group
With millions of visitors to its properties every day, Simon Property Group is the largest mall owner in the world. But the rise of e-commerce has made the word "mall" a dirty four-letter word among many investors.
That said, I would argue that investors turning away from Simon Property Group are doing so more due to a lack of understanding than because of poor fundamentals on behalf of Simon's top-of-the-line malls. Even as the e-commerce industry grows, shoppers still value experiences; a recent survey found that 76% of consumers prefer spending on experiences rather than consumer goods. That trend could very well be why Simon has invested heavily in redesigning its malls, adding restaurants, aquariums, and food courts to draw customers into its properties.
The company announced a 2.9% raise in its quarterly dividend per share to $1.75 at the start of this month, which was the second dividend increase of the year thus far. With Simon's dividend payout ratio set to be in the mid- to upper-50% range for 2022, there should be plenty of dividend growth in the years ahead.
And yield-hungry investors can buy the stock's generous 6.5% yield at a forward price-to-FFO-per-share ratio of 9.4.
