2 No-Brainer Stocks to Buy Right Now for Less than $30

Affordably priced shares -- typically seen as those trading under $30 on a per-share basis -- are a rarity among large companies with stable long-term growth prospects. That's because the market almost always bids up their share prices, as there's always a high demand for investments in such businesses.  

Bayer (BAYR.Y 1.65%) and Medical Properties Trust (MPW -1.10%) are relatively large companies with stable, but growing, businesses whose stock currently trade under $30. Bayer's stock trades at around $14.5 a share, while Medical Properties Trust's shares are selling for $7.9 apiece. 

Bayer is one of the largest drug manufacturers in the world, with over 101,000 employees and operating in 83 countries, with a market capitalization a little over $56 billion. Medical Properties Trust is the second-largest nongovernmental owner of hospitals in the world and is worth north of $4.6 billion in the stock market today.

There's something to be said for large companies. Their size has helped give them steady growth, predictable cash flow, and above-average dividends.

Bayer: Easing investors' pain

In the United States, many people only think of aspirin when they think of Bayer. But the German healthcare giant has a vast reach, with pharmaceutical, agricultural, and consumer healthcare segments. The company's innovation has helped drive consistent revenue returns. Last year, the company spent nearly 6.6 billion euros ($7 billion) on research and development, more than double what it did a decade ago.

It's also spent heavily on acquisitions to broaden its cell and gene therapies, snapping up BlueRock Therapeutics for $600 million in 2019 and Asklepios BioPharmaceutical for $4 billion in 2020.

Last year, the company reported full-year revenue of 50.7 billion euros ($54.5 billion), up 8.7% from 2021, and net income of 4.5 billion euros ($4.8 billion), up 405%.

Bayer's shares were trading for under $14.5 as of May 24, up a little under 11% for the year. I like Bayer because its diverse business provides a degree of safety for investors. The company has increased revenue by 23% over the past five years and earnings per share (EPS) by 109%.

Bayer is coming off a sluggish first quarter, with revenue falling 1.3%, year over year, to 14.6 billion euros ($15.7 billion) and net income of 2.2 billion euros ($2.37 billion), down 33.8% over the same period last year. Nevertheless, the company said it expects yearly revenue to be between 51 billion and 52 billion euros (between $54.8 billion and $55.9 billion), up 2% to 3% over 2022.

It's also easy to like Bayer's dividend, which now yields around 4.5%, more than double the 1.66% average of the S&P 500.

Medical Properties Trust: Plenty of risk and reward

Medical Properties Trust's shares have fallen 33% so far this year, but I can't see the healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) stock falling much further than the $7.9 per share it was trading at on May 24. Its shares have taken a hit because of a litany of woes -- a critical short-seller report, tenants with financial difficulties, and rising interest rates that make it more expensive to expand.

All of that has made the company's dividend yield that much more enticing: It's now just north of 15%. Medical Properties Trust raised its dividend by 3.5% last year to $0.29, the 10th consecutive year it has boosted the dividend.

With the difficulties the company is having, there's no guarantee a dividend increase is coming this year -- but with that high a yield, it doesn't matter. At least Medical Properties Trust has declined to cut the dividend, which seems safe with a 78.3% normalized funds from operation (FFO) payout ratio, well within safety limits for a REIT.

The company is in the process of tightening its portfolio, and while that reckoning may lead to short-term bumps, the REIT will be healthier for it. On May 24, it completed a sale of seven hospitals in Australia. On May 1, CommonSpirit bought troubled operator Steward's hospital assets in Utah, diversifying Medical Properties Trust's portfolio; Steward, which had been responsible for 26% of Medical Properties Trust's leases, now is only responsible for 19.8%.

The company also got good news on May 23 when tenant Prospect Medical Holdings was successfully able to reorganize its debt, signaling that it will renew lease payments to Medical Properties Trust in September. As part of the agreement, Medical Properties Trust sold its Crozer Health properties in Pennsylvania back to Crozer's parent Prospect Medical Holdings for a $155 million mortgage. While that's a big loss from the $420 million Medical Properties Trust paid for Crozer's real estate in 2019, it lessens the company's exposure to a distressed lessee.

In the first quarter, Medical Properties Trust showed signs of progress, with normalized FFO of $0.37, compared to $0.21 in the prior quarter. However, reported revenue was $350.2 million, down from $380.4 million in the prior quarter.

Medical Properties Trust's management is making prudent moves now that should pay off for its long-term investors. In the meantime, that 15% yield is very enticing.