United Development Funding IV (OTCMKTS:UDFI) versus Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) Head-To-Head Survey

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) and United Development Funding IV (OTCMKTS:UDFI) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and United Development Funding IV”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medical Properties Trust	$972.02 million	3.58	-$277.05 million	($0.46)	-12.57
United Development Funding IV	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

United Development Funding IV has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Medical Properties Trust.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Medical Properties Trust and United Development Funding IV, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medical Properties Trust	1	0	1	0	2.00
United Development Funding IV	0	0	0	0	0.00

Medical Properties Trust currently has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.41%. Given Medical Properties Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Medical Properties Trust is more favorable than United Development Funding IV.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Medical Properties Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of United Development Funding IV shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Medical Properties Trust and United Development Funding IV’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medical Properties Trust	-28.50%	-5.83%	-1.85%
United Development Funding IV	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Medical Properties Trust beats United Development Funding IV on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed to capitalize on the changing trends in healthcare delivery by acquiring and developing net-leased healthcare facilities. MPT’s financing model allows hospitals and other healthcare facilities to unlock the value of their underlying real estate in order to fund facility improvements, technology upgrades, staff additions and new construction. Facilities include acute care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, and other medical and surgical facilities.

About United Development Funding IV

United Development Funding IV invests in secured loans for the acquisition and development of land into single-family home lots, and the construction of model and new single-family homes. It also makes equity investments in residential real estate. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. United Development Funding IV was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas.