Financial Contrast: MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) vs. Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW)

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) and Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares MFA Financial and Medical Properties Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MFA Financial	28.38%	9.97%	1.71%
Medical Properties Trust	N/A	-38.83%	-15.05%

Dividends

MFA Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.7%. Medical Properties Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. MFA Financial pays out 88.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Medical Properties Trust pays out -7.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for MFA Financial and Medical Properties Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MFA Financial	0	0	5	0	3.00
Medical Properties Trust	0	6	1	0	2.14

MFA Financial currently has a consensus price target of $13.80, suggesting a potential upside of 35.49%. Medical Properties Trust has a consensus price target of $4.92, suggesting a potential upside of 4.81%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than Medical Properties Trust.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares MFA Financial and Medical Properties Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MFA Financial	$334.80 million	3.11	$80.16 million	$1.59	6.41
Medical Properties Trust	$641.32 million	4.39	-$556.48 million	($4.22)	-1.11

MFA Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Medical Properties Trust. Medical Properties Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MFA Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

65.3% of MFA Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of MFA Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

MFA Financial has a beta of 2.11, meaning that its stock price is 111% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medical Properties Trust has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MFA Financial beats Medical Properties Trust on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage securities, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities, agency MBS, and credit risk transfer securities; residential whole loans, including purchased performing loans, purchased credit deteriorated, and non-performing loans; and mortgage servicing rights related assets. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 to acquire and develop net-leased hospital facilities. From its inception in Birmingham, Alabama, the Company has grown to become one of the world's largest owners of hospital real estate with 441 facilities and approximately 44,000 licensed beds as of September 30, 2023. Since the end of the third quarter, the Company has sold four facilities and now owns approximately 43,000 licensed beds in nine countries across three continents. MPT's financing model facilitates acquisitions and recapitalizations and allows operators of hospitals to unlock the value of their real estate assets to fund facility improvements, technology upgrades and other investments in operations.