Problems at Medical Properties Trust (MPW)

Problems at Medical Properties Trust (MPW)

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW — $12.6 billion) is a Birmingham-based REIT that owns for-profit hospitals. Medical Properties Trust’s assets are concentrated with a few operators, usually private equity firms. Unknown to many investors, Medical Properties Trust’s largest tenants are in financial distress or propped up by related-party deals.

For the last 17 years, Medical Properties Trust has issued equity to complete sale-leaseback transactions with for-profit hospitals. Shares outstanding have gone from under 20 million in 2004 to over 530 million today. Medical Properties Trust is now the second-largest owner of hospital beds in the U.S. with 425 properties representing roughly 44,000 licensed beds across the United States.

(MPW annual shares outstanding from 2004 to 2020)

This growth has all occurred under Edward Aldag Jr. and R. Stephen Hammer, who have been CEO/founder and CFO since the company’s 2005 IPO. Over the last five years, management has sold over $80 million of stoc…